A New Beginning
by Mrs-diAngelo25
Summary: Seventeen years. It's been seventeen years since Kyra defeated Callie at Camp. In that time, she and Nico have gotten married and have had three children; James, Adrienne, and Michael. What will happen when a mysterious man takes Kyra, Nico, and Michael?
1. Chapter 1

**A New Beginning **  
**Chapter One**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"Adrienne, don't go into the woods at all unless it's capture the flag night or you have James or someone else with you. Otherwise, the woods are off-limits." I tell her.

I still couldn't believe she was on her way to her first year of Camp. She wasn't even twelve yet. It felt like she was still my little girl.

"Yea, mom. You've told me _five_ times now." she says, rolling her dark brown eyes.

"I mean it. Terrible things have happened to me in those woods. I don't want the same things happening to you." I say, placing my hands on my hips.

"What kinds of things?" she asks, curious.

"I'll tell you when you're older. You're still too young to know." I say.

"I bet James knows!" she pouts. I should have known that was coming.

"He doesn't know unless your dad told him." I say.

She huffs and turns away from me, marching into the living room where James and Nico were; her shoulder length, slightly wavy, black hair bouncing as she walked.

I follow and find Nico going through a check list with James. I smile at him and his lists. Over the past few years, he's become so organized, especially right before we had Michael. I guess he wanted to be completely organized by the time he came along.

"Bow and arrows?" Nico asks.

"Yes, dad." James sighs, obviously sick and tired of going through check lists.

James sees me and gives me a pleading look with his leaf green eyes. I smirk and nod, walking over to Nico.

"Nico, I think they have everything." I say, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"But there's just a few more—" he starts.

"They have everything. And if not, it's not that difficult to just bring it to them." I say.

Nico sighs and folds up his list.

"Alright then, ready?" he asks.

"Dad, we've _been_ ready." James says, exasperated.

Nico gets a slightly hurt look in his eyes but then he bristles with annoyance, covering up the hurt.

James and Nico don't get along so well, same as Adrienne and I don't get along very well. Now, James and I are fine together and Adrienne and Nico are fine together. Strange, I know.

"James." I say, a warning tone in my voice.

He sighs and picks up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. He walks over to Michael, who was playing with his toys, and grabs one of his hands and walks to the front door.

I suppose his mood towards Nico was just because he was fifteen and at that slightly rebellious stage; he didn't want to be told what to do, he wanted to be independent and do it all himself. He'd learn sooner or later that everyone needs help every now and again.

Adrienne picks up her backpack as well and follows her brothers.

"I just don't see what I do wrong." Nico sighs, watching them as they walk out the door and to the car.

I take his hand and say, "Nothing. It's just a stage. Same as Addie and me. We'll get though it alive, I promise."

"Parenting seems a lot harder than killing monsters, now that I think about it." he grumbles.

I laugh and say, "Come on. We'll want to get them there around the same time the others' kids get there."

* * *

As I drive my manual cheery red Jeep down the old country road, the top down and my golden aMuse (my high school graduation gift from Apollo) plugged in and playing softly, I can't help but feel nostalgic.

Mine and Nico's last year here had been the summer before we got married that fall, almost 17 years ago. We had really only been back since James had started coming 4 years ago.

"Mom, will you _please_ tell me why I can't go into the woods by myself?" Adrienne pleads from the backseat.

I sigh and roll my eyes. She just wasn't going to let this go. Stubborn, like Nico and myself. Sometimes I wished she hadn't gotten that attribute.

"No. You're not old enough to know." I say.

"What was so horrible that happened in those woods?" she asks.

"Addie, that's enough." Nico says.

"But dad—" she starts.

"Adrienne Bianca di Angelo, I said that that was _enough_. I don't want to hear another thing about what happened to your mother in those woods." he says.

I glance over at him to see he looked a bit sickened, yet furious at the same time. Only Nico could pull off that look. He knew full and well what had happened to me in those woods; what Daemon Richards had done to me so many years ago.

I shake my head a bit, trying to rid my mind of those horrible memories. I never wanted to relive that, and I sure as hell didn't want Adrienne to have to listen to it, or worse, experience it.

"James, do you know what happened?" she asks.

He sighs angrily and says, "Gods, Adrienne. I don't know and I don't care! Just leave it alone."

She crosses her arms and sits back in her seat, pouting.

I glance into my rear-view mirror and see that James was looking out his side of the car, an absolutely livid look on his face; Adrienne was looking out her side, an expression of hurt and a bit of anger on her face; and in between the two was Mike in his car seat, playing with his toy car and zooming it across his legs and the seat.

I smile a little and shake my head. Even when everyone else was fighting, his six year old mind was completely oblivious.

We finally near the end of the road and I see Half-Blood Hill, the pine tree healthier than ever. I could faintly see the Golden Fleece glimmering in it's lower branches, and Peleus curled around the tree, guarding it.

I pull over to the side of the road and turn off the car. James and Adrienne jump out as soon as it comes to a stop, grabbing their backpacks and weapons.

Nico and I get out of the car as well and I get Mike out of his car seat. We watch them as they climb the hill. He drapes his arm over my shoulders and says, "There they go."

"There they go." I echo, smiling a little.

I look over at him and he kisses my forehead.

"I just hope she'll be alright." I say.

"She will. I know she will." he says.

**A/N:**

**AHH! IT'S HERE, IT'S FINALLY HERE! In case you guys were wondering, the chapters in this story will alternate between Kyra and James. I'm just so excited to see what everyone thinks! **

**Also, if you're new to my stories and you just happened to come across this one while you were browsing the PJO stories, this is part one of the epilogue trilogy for my series ****The Shadows of Revolution,**** so I highly suggest reading those before you go any further in this story, otherwise you'll be incredibly confused while reading this.**

**If you're one of my old readers, welcome back, and I hope you like the story! It feels awesome writing for Kyra again. **

**Man, I'm so excited! I'm going trick-or-treating with some friends from class on Halloween, it's gonna be so rad! I'm going as a fox! **

**M/A:**

**Alright, here's the deal. I'm gonna change Music Appreciation up a bit. Instead of going through the whole thing of explaining why I love a certain song and giving you guys a piece of the song, I'm just gonna give you a song and who it's by. It'll be more of a "song of the moment" thing. **

**So today's is, ****My Paper Heart**** by ****The All-American Rejects.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"What's that?" Adrienne asks, pointing to the shed beside the Big House.

I sigh and say, "That's the main weaponry; where we store all the weapons that the Hephaestus cabin make and what we find on quests and stuff."

"Jamie!" a shrill voices calls.

I moan and turn to where it had come from. Kate Reynolds was waving at me; she was with her siblings from the Aphrodite cabin over by the volleyball pit.

I weakly wave back. "Hey, Kate." I say.

Adrienne looks at Kate and then at me, a smug look on her face.

"What?" I ask.

"She likes you." she says.

"So?" I ask.

"_So_? James, a _girl_ likes _you_! You should go for her!" she says.

I make a face and say, "Kate? Are you kidding me? I wouldn't date her even if someone offered me a million dollars."

She stops walking and places her hands on her hips. She looked like dad, but when she did that, good gods, she had a scary resemblance to mom.

"James Gideon di Angelo." she says.

"Adrienne Bianca di Angelo." I say, crossing my arms.

"When a girl obviously thinks you're cute, you ask her out." she says.

"Let me tell you something about Kate and pretty much all the girls from Aphrodite." I say, grabbing her arm and dragging her along.

"Yes?" she asks.

"They're all stuck up snobs." I say.

"James!" she gasps.

"Well, it's true!" I say, shrugging.

"I can't believe you said that." she says.

I groan and ask, "Well, did you want me to lie and say something else?"

"Well, no." she says.

"Okay then, stop acting like it's such a big deal." I say.

She sighs and says, "Fine."

"C'mon, I'll take you to the Apollo cabin so you can meet some people." I say, leading her in the direction of the cabins.

* * *

"Everyone, this is my little sister Adrienne. Adrienne, this is everyone." I say, waving my hand and walking into the cabin.

I toss my backpack onto the bed that's been mine for 4 years now. There were some pictures tacked up on the wall behind it of me and friends. There were also a couple of mom, dad, Adrienne, Mike, and I.

"Little sister, eh?" Sam says, walking up to Adrienne and eyeing her.

"Who's claimed her?" he asks.

"No one yet. Dunno if it'll be Apollo or Hades." I say, shrugging.

"Hm. Well, you definitely look like a granddaughter of Hades. Can you shoot arrows, or do you prefer a different weapon?" Gail asks.

"Well, I've tried shooting before, and ended up taking out a window. So, I prefer my throwing stars and a dagger." she says.

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." Sam says.

Currently, there were only five people in the Apollo cabin. Sam, Gail, Lydia, Tristan, and me.

Tristan was a grandson of Apollo, who was Uncle Will's son. He was the cabin's counselor, but he usually couldn't get to Camp until about a week after summer break. Lydia and Gail were daughters of Apollo and Sam was a son of Apollo.

"So have you met Chiron yet?" Lydia asks.

"Nope." Adrienne says, shaking her head.

"James, how could you _not_ take her to see Chiron?" she asks, giving me an accusing look with her golden eyes.

"I wanted to get settled in first." I say.

"Well, you've done that. Now go take her to Chiron." she says, grabbing me by the shirt and dragging me to the door.

"See you later, Adrienne. It was nice meeting you!" Lydia says, pushing me out the door after Adrienne.

* * *

Let's just say that when Adrienne saw Chiron, she pretty much went into shock for a minute or so. Sure, she had encountered monsters and other mythical creatures before, but, surprisingly, she had never seen an actual centaur.

"Your parents tell me that you're a very fierce fighter, Adrienne." he says.

"Um, yes sir." she says.

"Do you have any talents?" he questions.

"Talents?" she asks.

"Yes. Shadow traveling, for instance. This is a talent most descendants of Hades have. If Hades were to claim you, that would mean you have more of your father's blood in you than your mother's." he says.

"James here," he says, pointing to me, "Is a grandson of Apollo, therefore having more of your mother's blood than your father's. He can heal the wounded and he also has quite excellent musical talents." he explains.

"Well, I can't play any instruments, that's for sure. And I don't think I can heal people." she says.

"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see." he says, giving her a warm smile.

"How long does it usually take for someone to be claimed?" she asks.

"Usually it happens the day the demigod first arrives at camp. Most commonly, it happens around the time of the campfire." he says.

"So by tonight we'll know what cabin you'll be in." I say.

"Exactly." he says, nodding.

"I'm sorry to cut this short," he says, looking at the clock on the wall, "But I must get to a beginners archery class." he says, trotting out of the Big House and towards the range.

"So, what do we do until dinner?" she asks.

"Well, tomorrow we'll be training all day, since it's the first official day of camp. But today, we can do whatever we want." I say, walking out onto the porch.

She follows and asks, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. See which of my friends are here, go to the beach?" I say, shrugging.

"Oh." she says.

"I don't think Cecil, Brandon, Julia, or any of the others are here yet, and I know Tristan isn't here yet. Why don't I introduce you to some other people your age?" I ask. Adrienne wasn't the most outgoing person I knew, she was a bit shy.

Cecil and Brandon were Percy and Annabeth's two children. Cecil is a year older than me, and Brandon is Adrienne's age. We usually see them a few times a year, since mom and dad like to meet up every now and then.

Julia is Jason and Piper's daughter. She's one of the only non-snobbish kids from Aphrodite. She's 16, same as Cecil.

Leo and Jessie's son, Dean, is 17. Cecil and Julia are usually the only ones that hang out with him.

The ones that we spend the most time with are Uncle Mo and Aunt Cassie's kids, Haley, Evan, and Tara. Haley is just a few months younger than me, Evan's a year older than Adrienne and Tara is a year younger than her.

When everyone and their kids get together for a weekend or something for Christmas or Thanksgiving or some other holiday, it's like a giant family reunion.

Her face lights up with a smile. "Really? You'd do that?" she asks.

"Sure, why not?" I shrug.

"Oh, thank you, James." she says. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't really want me to leave her alone to figure out what to do by herself.

"Okay then, I'll start you off with the Demeter cabin. They're a pretty nice group of people." I say, waving her on.

Together, we head back down to the cabins.

**A/N:**

**It's a bit different writing for James, but I like it. Originally I didn't plan on making Tristan Will's son, but then I thought about it and thought, "Well, if he's not Will's son, who's is he? Belen's?" And Belen and Melina were ****_very _****minor characters in Salvation so I'm not sure if they're even going to be in this trilogy. **

**I think you guys are gonna like the next chapter a lot :3**

**Well, yesterday my mom dragged me out of the house for some human interaction since I've been holed up inside the house for pretty much the whole week. I think the most awkward thing ever is when you're shopping or something and a complete stranger just keeps staring at you and when you look at them and make eye-contact, then look away really quickly, ****_they keep staring at you._**** This happened while I was at the grocery store with my mom yesterday. It was this guy who was like twelve and he just kept looking at me, kinda creeped me out to be honest. **

**Oh, so I'm doing my first art show thing on November first at a craft show! I'll be displaying/selling some of my artwork and also working on the wheel. I'm excited, but also a bit nervous at the same time...My talking face-to-face with people skills suck. I'm usually just a mumbling idiot when it comes to talking to strangers and afterwords I feel like smacking myself and saying, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"**

**I've come to the conclusion that I really hate the laundromat. I had to wash my comforter last night but my washer was too small for it, so I had to go to the laundromat a few minutes away from my house. I honestly felt like I was going to be murdered in there or something. All the people just stared at me, giving me like death-glares and they just freaked me out. And it's not just this laundromat, it's every one I've ever been to that's like that. **

**M/A:**

**Today's song is ****Cemetery Drive**** by ****My Chemical Romance.**** It's a super-fucking-awesome song and you should totally listen to it!**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"So, you want to wait around for the others, or start heading home?" Nico asks.

We were walking around Camp with Michael in between us, watching as the kids played volleyball or went for a swim in the lake.

"Let's wait around for a little while longer. C'mon, I want to go see something." I say, taking Mike's hand and leading both of them to the cabins.

"Where are we going?" Nico asks.

"Just hang on." I say, smiling a little.

After about ten minutes of trying to find it, I see the two oak trees. They had gotten a bit bigger since the last time I had taken this path.

I squeeze through them and Nico follows. We carefully walk along the old, over-grown path, making sure Mike didn't trip and fall along the way.

"Are we going where I think we're going?" Nico asks.

"If you're thinking of the cliff overlooking the hills, then yes." I say.

We finally get there, to see that the scene hadn't changed after all these years. A bit overgrown with weeds and such, but besides that, it looked exactly the same.

The Moonlace still covered the hills below, except that they weren't currently blooming since it was the middle of the day. The little stream was still there, looking just a little different.

I sit down on the edge of the cliff, letting my feet dangle over the edge. Nico sits down beside me, setting Mike in his lap and holding on tightly to him.

"Y'know, it's just as beautiful in the daytime as it is as night." I say.

"You're right." he says.

We sit there for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet. Suddenly, I hear a sort of cracking and breaking sound.

"What was that?" I ask, looking around.

"Probably a monster farther back in the woods." he says, brushing it aside.

Then the ground beneath me sort of just crumbles apart and I fall towards the ground.

"Kyra!" Nico shouts, trying to grab at my hand as I fall, while also trying not to drop Mike.

Our fingers just barely brush against each other, but he wasn't able to catch me.

I fall way, way down to the ground, screaming all the while. I land painfully on my back. I squint open my eyes to see Nico trying to find a way to climb down safely with Mike.

I tentatively move around, making sure nothing was broken. Thankfully, from what I could tell, nothing was. Just bruised and banged up.

I sit up just as Nico walks down on a small path he had found. He leaves Mike over by a small patch of Moonlace where we could see him and rushes over to help me stand up.

"Are you alright?" he asks, concern in his dark eyes.

"Yea, fine." I say, brushing the dirt off my clothes.

I look around and see that I had landed at the mouth of a cave. It was dark inside, making it impossible to tell if something was in there.

I take out my phone and use its flashlight feature. I shine the white light inside and see that it didn't go very far back at all, and it was deserted.

"Mike, come here!" Nico calls, waving him over.

He runs over to us, holding a flower in his small hand. He reaches up to me and gives me the flower. I smile and take it from him, then take his hand.

We walk in, looking around. There were aged maps on the walls. They looked like maps of the camp. At the back of the cave, there was a little work table.

I walk over to it and look at the things scattered across it. There was, what looked to be, plans of some sort. Maps of tunnels in different places all over the United States, safe houses, emergency armories, and some other maps of the camp.

"Nico." I say, rifling through all the papers.

"Yea, Ky?" he asks.

"I think-I think this had been Callie's little hide out. Or one of them. Where do the boarders stop over here?" I ask.

"At the end of the hills." he says, coming over to look at the contents on the table.

"Do you think she somehow infiltrated it over there with the help of one of her sorceress friends? Because I don't think hardly anyone ever went over there, no one would of seen her." I say.

"It's possible. She might've found a weak spot in it and was able to break through." he says, looking at a long list of weapons.

"Well, I'm just glad we don't have to worry about this stuff anymore, now that she's no longer a part of our lives." I say.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." he says.

"Hang on." I say, gathering all the papers and maps and putting them into my backpack.

"What do you need those for?" he asks.

"I'm going to burn them. If we leave this stuff here, it might fall into the wrong hands if someone comes across this place." I say.

"Good idea." he says, taking the old, crinkly maps off the walls.

After we've gathered everything, I look around and shiver slightly.

Nico lays a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. "Hey, all that's behind us. We can move on." he says.

"I know. Those memories just come into my mind every now and then. I remember everything that happened over those four years. I wish I could erase all those awful memories from my mind, but I can't." I say.

"Well, if none of that had happened, we probably wouldn't be where we are today." he says, looking down, fondly, at Mike.

"That's true." I say, running my fingers through his mop of curly black hair.

I take Nico's hand and we start walking out of the cave, Michael running around in front of us, pretending he was an airplane or something.

We start making our way back up to the top of the cliff, being careful where we stepped on the steep, narrow path.

Sometimes I hated that part of my life, all the pain Callie had put me through. But, as Nico had said, if none of that had happened, we wouldn't be where we are today, or have what we have.

**A/N:**

**Blast from the past. I like writing those, makes me feel all nostalgic. If that had been one Callie's hide-outs, why do you think she never went through the woods and tried ambushing Kyra? **

**I swear, I have the most bizarre and disturbing dreams ever. Last night's was ****_extremely _****strange, even for me and my fucked up mind. Let's just say it involved the birthing of killer robot dogs and Frank Iero and Gerard Way and leave it at that. **

**Can I just say that button-ups (especially plaid ones) and sweaters are the best fucking things ever invented. Like, fuck man, they're awesome. Throw a cami under that button-up, pair it with some ripped skinny jeans and some combat boots or hi-top Converse and you got yourself a totally fucking cute outfit. **

**And don't even get me started on jackets. I've already gotten two new ones and I found another that I want and just-THEY'RE SO ADORABLE, I WANT ALL THE ADORABLE JACKETS ON THE PLANET! **

**Man, I wanted to flip off this guy today. I was with my friend and her mom after class because her mom needed to run some errands and I didn't really want to go home yet. So, one of the things she needed to do was go to the laundromat. Well, she got her clothes started and she was talking to the owner and I was standing there with my friend and the owner just looked at me and said I needed to get some pants that weren't ripped. Okay, I'm used to people picking on me for my fashion choices, so I just smiled at him and said that I liked wearing jeans like this. **

**So he goes onto this whole thing of how I'm a beautiful young girl and how if I wore un-ripped jeans I'd have boys lining up for me. Ugh. Lemme just tell you that I ****_HATE _****it when people do that to me. Like, they tell me "Oh man, you're gorgeous, I betcha your daddy has to ward off the boys with a shotgun." And it's FUCKING EMBARRASSING. Like really, they just need to stop. **

**But this guy wasn't the one I wanted to flip off. There was another guy who came over and sat down at the table with the owner and jumped into the conversation as well. Somehow my friend's mom got the conversation turned to how I'm an artist and this other guy starts asking me all these questions like,"Well, what do you do?" so I told him I was a potter and he asked me if the things I made could actually be used or if they were just for decoration. THEN, after all that and answering more questions like that, her mom said I was a successful writer too. By this point, I really just wanted to smack a piece of duct tape across her mouth.**

**So the guy who had been asking me all the questions about my pottery turned and looked at me and said, "Well, what kind of stuff do you write?" and I'm gonna be honest, he was about mid-fifties, early sixties, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't know what fanfiction was, so I just told him I wrote fictional stories. Then he asked me if I had published anything or sent anything in and I told him I hadn't then he launches into this whole lecture about how if I want to be a successful potter or writer, I need to put myself out there. **

**I wanted to scream, "I'M ONLY 15 YOU FUCKING ASSBUTT! AND FOR YOUR FUCKING INFORMATION, I'VE SOLD QUITE A FEW OF MY PIECES OF MY POTTERY ****_AND _****I'VE HAD A GUY CONTACT ME ABOUT A FUCKING SHORT HORROR STORY I WROTE!" and then flip him off and storm out. Being me though, I didn't do that, but god I wanted to.**

**And the tone he was using was sorta like he was criticizing me because I hadn't published anything. Like fuck, just fuck. I really just don't get people, man.**

**I'm so excited. I'm planning on getting a new iPod nano because my iPod touch is suckish. It goes really slow and I have to press the shuffle button several times before it will actually decide to go to shuffle. It also takes forever for me to skip a song, and it glitches all the time. I'm gonna get a yellow one, 16gb. AHH! I CAN'T WAIT!**

**M/A:**

***screams at the top of my lungs on top of a building* **

**"'BOARDERLINES AND ALIENS**

**GLOWING IN THE DARK'"**

**Today's song is ****Boaderlines And Aliens**** by ****Grouplove**** from their newest album ****Spreading Rumors.**

**Fucking brilliant album and you should totally check it out!**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"Hey, Vienna." I say, knocking on the Demeter cabin's door frame.

"Oh, hey James." Vienna says, walking over to the open door.

Her long, honey blonde hair was brushed over one shoulder and her periwinkle eyes glittered. Vienna was one of the nicest girls I knew at Camp. She was very accepting of people, didn't usually judge them by first glance. I figured she would be the best person to introduce Adrienne to.

"This is my sister, Adrienne. It's her first year at Camp, so I thought I'd introduce her to some people." I say, nudging Addie forward a bit.

"Hi, Adrienne. I'm Vienna." she says, giving Addie's hand a slight shake.

"Why don't I introduce you to the rest of the cabin. You can hang out with us today." she says, giving her a warm smile.

"Okay." Addie says, giving a small smile.

"I'll see you later Addie. Vienna, can you make sure she's up at the mess hall for dinner?" I ask.

"Yea, sure James." she says.

"Thanks." I say, walking away from the cabin to see if any of my friends were here yet.

* * *

As I walked over to the Hecate cabin to see if my friend Fletcher was there, I had to hide behind the fountain to avoid Kate and the rest of the Aphrodite girls.

I couldn't wait till Julia got here. She was the Aphrodite counselor and she was usually able to keep the other girls under control, keeping them from turning into total fangirls any time they saw a guy they thought was attractive. Dad had told me that Piper had been the same kind of counselor during her time here.

When they're past me and have their backs turned away from me, I quickly sneak over to the Hecate cabin. I knock on the door and a few seconds later, it opens up.

Jackie, the cabin's counselor, was standing there, a bored look on her face. Her dark hair was choppy and disheveled, like she'd just woken up from a nap.

"Can I help you?" she asks. Jackie didn't like me very much, for some unknown reason. I don't recall ever doing anything to offend her, so I really didn't understand why she didn't like me.

"Um, yea. Is Fletcher here yet?" I ask.

"Nope. Called and said he couldn't get here til Saturday." she says.

"Oh. Well, okay." I say.

She scowls and slams the door in my face. Sometimes, I really hated that girl. She acted more like a daughter of Ares than of Hecate.

I walk down the glittering jade and marble steps and over to the Iris cabin to see if Becky or Nathan were there.

A few minutes later gives me the same result, except I didn't get the door slammed in my face.

Sometimes I wondered why mom and dad always insisted on getting to Camp early when none of my friends would be here yet.

I sigh and make my way back to the Apollo cabin. I could get my swim suit on and take a dip in the lake for a while, then figure out how to waste the rest of my time before dinner.

**A/N:**

**Sort of a filler chapter, I think, but oh well. The next chapter is a sort of filler too.**

**Do you ever feel like you've been really busy, but haven't been? Like, all you've been doing is sitting around the house or something, but at the end of the day, you just feel like you've been busy? That's pretty much how I've felt for the past two weeks. Yesterday though, I was a little busy. I was getting things ready for my show thing on Saturday, pricing pieces and such. That took ****_forever. _****Pricing stuff is hard, 'cause I don't want to overcharge and mark a little mug at a ridiculous price, but then I also don't want to have it so cheap that I don't really make much of a profit. **

**And last night, while ****_still _****watching Supernatural (I'm on the eighth season! Only a little bit more before I'm caught up!), I drew this little comic-type thing and I think it's the cutest thing. Recently I've had this obsession with pie. Yes, you read right. Pie.**

**So in the comic, there's a slice of hot cherry pie on a plate. And then above it, there's a little dialogue bubble that reads, "'WHERE'S MY GODDAMNED PIE?!'" and then off to the side, there's a little cartoony version of me. It's all done with the fine-point sharpies, I'm quite proud of the way it turned out, to be honest :3**

**I also rearranged my bedroom yesterday, got bored with the way it was set up. And then I hung this chain thing with these clips on it to hang up art and stuff. That thing took me ****_forever _****to hang up. It just didn't want to cooperate with me at all.**

**Oh, by the way, Saturday's chapter will probably be a little later than usual because that craft show goes til 3:00. So, I have no clue when I'll be home 'cause I'll have to load up the car with whatever I don't sell and also my wheel that I'm bringing...And I think this all has to go in my mom's little car, so that oughta be fun. And then I told my friend the other day that I'd never been to a haunted corn maze so she said that we're going this weekend, I dunno if that'll actually happen 'cause she's probably forgotten all about that conversation by now, but we'll see.**

**And last night I learned something while making dinner for me and my dad; mishaps with the waffle maker are ****_very _****messy and extremely hard to clean up. So, word of advice, if you're ever making waffles, ****_never _****use too much batter. It ends in disaster.**

**M/A:**

***drum roll* And today's song is...**

**Ten-Twenty-Ten**** by ****Generationals****!**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

As we made our way our of the woods and back into the courtyard, Mike tugged his hand from my grasp and ran ahead of Nico and I.

We watched as he went straight to the Hades cabin and up its gleaming obsidian steps. Nico sighs and goes on after him while I continue on up to the Big House.

On my way, I stop at the Apollo cabin. I had't actually come inside the past four years when we brought James here. I walk up the steps and open the door. It creaked slightly. I don't enter the cabin, I just look around at the inside.

It looked just a little different. A bow and quiver was mounted behind each bed, there were also extras closer to the bathrooms.

The former red love-seat had been tossed and replaced with two bright yellow chairs. The walls had been painted the same color as the inside of a peach, and it did a sort of ombré effect and started darkening to red mid-wall.

I look at my old bed to see some of James' pictures pinned up around the bow and quiver, as well as his backpack on the bed.

I smile and shake my head, closing the door and going back down the steps.

I find Nico coming over to me, holding onto Mike. His knee was scraped and he had dirt on the front of himself. Basically, he didn't look like a very happy little boy.

"What did he do?" I ask.

"Well, when I got to the Hades cabin, he was already inside. He insisted on playing a little game of "catch me if you can," and ran back out and past me. He tripped while running down the steps." he says.

"Oh, my poor baby!" I say, hugging Mike.

He squirms and struggles to get out of my hug.

"No, no more running off. Mike, how would you like a snack after we get you cleaned up a bit?" I ask.

"Oh. Yes, please!" he says, nodding enthusiastically and grinning.

"Alright then, you're going to have to behave and stay with daddy and I. Okay?" I ask.

"Okay." he says.

I take his hand again and we start making our way to the Big House, yet again.

* * *

As we climb the steps of the Big House, I hear voices inside. Familiar voices. They stop when they hear our footsteps.

We head inside to find Mo and his wife Cassie, Leo and Jessie, Jason and Piper, and Percy and Annabeth. They were all sitting in the lounge, talking.

"Uncle Mo Mo!" Michael says, gleefully.

He runs over to him and Mo picks him up and spins him around.

"Careful Mo." I say, walking over with Nico.

He gives me a look and says, "Since when have I _not_ been careful with your children. They're basically family."

I shrug and say, "True."

Nico goes over and hugs Annabeth. Then he and Percy do one of those "man-hugs," when they sort of embrace and pat each others backs a couple of times.

I sit down next to Annabeth on the long couch and Nico sits next to me. Michael squirms out of Mo's grasp and opens up my backpack, looking for his two toy cars.

"So, has Adrienne settled in alright?" Leo asks.

"Dunno. We haven't seen her or James since we got out of the car. They just took off." Nico says.

"Well, I suppose that's a good sign. Tara was kicking and screaming when we were trying to get her in the car today. I think she's a bit terrified that she's going to be sent on a quest or something this first summer." Cassie says, shaking her head.

"Well…" Mo says, shrugging, "It _has_ happened before."

We all talk for a little while longer, then start leaving, pair by pair. Mo and Cassie finally leave, leaving Percy and Annabeth with us.

We all stand up and stretch, moving our stiff limbs around.

"Well, I guess we better get going." I say.

"Us too. Got work tomorrow morning and we've got a bit of a drive ahead of us." Percy says.

"Mike, c'mon sweetie. Time to go." I say, crouching down to his level.

"But mama, I don't wanna go." he pouts.

"I promise, you'll be coming back someday. But now, we need to go get some dinner and then start heading home." I say, holding my backpack open so he could put his cars back in it.

He eyes me with his forest green and dark brown speckled eyes. "Fine." he says, dropping the two small cars in the bag.

I stand up, zipping the backpack shut. "Ready?" I ask Nico.

"Yea." he says.

"We'll see you guys later." I say, giving Annabeth a hug, and then Percy as well.

We walk out of the lounge and onto the porch. The sun has just set, coloring the sky partially dark blue and purple and the other red and orange.

We walk down the steps and start heading up the hill. We had a long drive home.

**A/N:**

**Surprise update 'cause why not? At work with my mom, again. It was really, really busy a couple of hours ago, and now it's calmed down a little. I really love writing and people watching while I'm here, it's fun :3**

**Though, there are some parents here that keep screaming at their children and scolding them when they haven't even done anything. Parents like that, I really just want to go over to them and strangle them. It's annoying to everyone around them and it's definitely not making their kid happy. **

**Like I said yesterday, this was a sort of filler chapter. It gets a bit interesting tomorrow...**

**Ugh. Guys, I believe I've developed a crush. *bangs head against a brick wall* It's this guy that works with my mom, he's either my age, or a year older, and he's ****_reeeeeally _****cute. This is a problem 'cause I spend a lot of time at work with my mom (as if you didn't know that already) and so he'll be taking food to people and busing tables and I'll just keep watching him on impulse and eventually he'll see me and just-ugh. I really hate it when I get a crush on someone I encounter a lot, because there's an actual chance that they'll come up to me and ask me why the fuck I keep staring at them. I CAN'T HELP IT! I like it better when I crush on celebrities, they can't see me, so there's no confrontation. **

**To make it even worse, tonight all the employees that are running and busing are dressed up and he's dressed as a dog. Oh my god, it's the most fucking adorable thing I have ever seen! He's got a tail and a collar on, and he has a dog nose painted on his nose, if that makes any sense. Again, *smashing head against a brick wall***

**Pleasant surprise this morning. Last night a couple of my mom's friends and my mom and dad went to see a concert. Well, they stayed the night and left this morning (I was still asleep when they left, even though it had been almost 10:00). Anyway, they bought a couple of the things that I had marked for the show on Saturday! So, I've almost got enough for a new iPod! It's a good thing too, 'cause the shuffle button has stopped working completely. The only way I can get it to shuffle is if I have it plugged into my dock and I use the remote.**

**Well, I hope everyone's had a fantabulous Wednesday, and I hope y'all have fun tomorrow night if you're going to a Halloween party or if you're trick-or-treating with friends (like me) or just handing out candy. **

**M/A:**

**Today's song is ****This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race**** by ****Fall Out Boy.**

**How I ****_just_**** discovered FOB the other day, I dunno. I've been hearing about them for years, but I just now started listening to them, and damn, they're awesome.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"James!" someone shouts.

I stop walking and turn around to see Adrienne running over to me, a huge smile on her face.

"Guess what!" she says.

"Uhm, you saw a tree nymph?" I ask, scratching my head.

"Nope. I just got claimed!" she says.

"Really? Who was it?" I ask.

"Hades." she says.

"Well, that's pretty cool. C'mon, let's go eat dinner." I say, putting my hand on her back and pushing her forward.

* * *

That night at the campfire, I convinced Sam and Lydia to do the sing-along. I could tell Adrienne wasn't quite ready to be by herself yet, so I told her she could sit with me and some of my friends.

When we got there and she saw the flames of the campfires, her mouth nearly dropped to the ground. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she just stood there and stared at the bright yellow and green flames.

I smile and shake my head, remembering my reaction to the campfires the first time I saw them. It was petty much the same as Adrienne's, except I had shouted, "Dude! The fire looks like a rainbow!"

I push her forward so we wouldn't cause a blockage with the oncoming campers.

I lead the way to the seats my friends and I had had last year, grabbing a couple of s'mores along the way.

"James, this is amazing!" Addie exclaims, still ogling at the campfires.

"They change color and size almost every night." I say, biting into one of the sugary treats.

"_Really_?" she asks.

I nod and, if possible, her eyes got even bigger.

"Dude, no way!" she says.

"I'm serious. If you don't believe me, ask someone else." I say.

Apparently she believed me, because she stayed seated. That or she was too nervous to go and ask someone.

* * *

_"__Oh yes. She'll pay for making her forget me. They'll all pay." a voice says. It was a guy, that was for sure. His voice was deep and he sort of sounded like he had a New York accent._

_"But, sir, they don't even know you exist." someone else says. This person was a girl. She was soft-spoken, sounding like she was talking to someone in a baby's room and trying not to wake it._

_"That's what'll make it easy. They won't fight back quite as hard if they don't know who I am." he says._

_"Oh, good point, master. I didn't even think about that." she says._

_"Oh course you didn't; you're a fucking imbecile!" he yells._

_"Yes, yes. I apologize." she says._

_"Well, apologizing isn't enough." he snarls._

_I hear a smack and a cry of pain, then a slight weeping._

_"Now, think about what you say before you say it." he growls._

* * *

I wake with a jolt. I look out the window and see the sky starting to get hints of pink and orange in them. It almost looked like the sun was chasing the moon away.

I chuckle, thinking of Apollo chasing Artemis around in his red sports car. She wouldn't stand for that, but it's a funny picture in your mind.

I sit up, running my fingers through my straight, chocolate brown hair. I look around and see that everyone else was still asleep, as I had expected.

I throw the blankets off of myself and get out of bed. As I grab a fresh set of clothes, I think about the dream I had had. Whoever that guy had been, he obviously held a grudge against someone. I really didn't understand why he slapped the girl that had been with him, she had just been pointing out that the person he wanted revenge on didn't know who he was. Something about it bothered me though. Why was I the one to have that dream? Usually when demigods have troubling dreams, the people or things in the dream have something to do with the demigod.

I shake my head, trying to drive away the troubling thoughts. I close my trunk and make my way to the bathroom. It's always nice getting up early and getting the shower first. Sam tended to take forever getting ready in the morning.

**A/N:**

**Mostly a filler up until the dream, huh? Who do you think that guy was and who do you think he wans revenge on? Why do you think James had a dream about him?**

**Oh man, I'm soooo tired. I stayed up til about 12:30 last night and then my mom got me up at 7:15 so I could get ready for the show today. I did alright, but for some reason, the local paper didn't advertise it, even though the lady who organized the thing payed for an ad. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow though :3**

**How was everyone's Halloween? I had fun, though a couple of 30-something year old guys who were dressed as Vector and Gru from Despicable Me stopped in their car beside me and my two friends...One of my friends was dressed as Vector and the driver (Gru) wanted to know if he could get his picture with him. So me and my other friend let them get the picture, while very cautiously watching him. Then after they left us, I leaned over to my friend and said, "That wasn't just the ****_slightest _****bit creepy, was it?"**

**M/A:**

**Today's song is ****Carry On Wayward Son**** by ****Kansas.**** I mean, holy fuck, that song is so awesome!**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25 **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"And then you're going to center the clay just, like, this." I say, pressing the wet clay down on the wheel.

"Oh. Thanks for showing me again." one of my students, Kori, says.

"No problem. It takes time to get the basics down." I say, wiping my hands on my apron and standing up from the wheel.

Kori sits down and starts trying to center the clay again. I walk over to the table to check on the other three students wedging clay.

"How's it going?" I ask.

"Good, I suppose. This really hurts my arms though." Angelique says.

I chuckle and say, "It'll build up your muscles. By next week, you won't notice it."

"Well, that's good to hear." she says.

"Hey, I'm going outside for a few minutes. I need to make a phone call. If anyone needs me, just come knock on the window." I say, grabbing my phone and walking out the front door.

As I sit down in one of the patio chairs and unlock my phone, I hear a rustling in the bushes beside the studio. I stand up tentatively and slip my phone back into my pocket.

I sneak quietly into the garden and touch the sun pendant strung onto it's white-gold chain around my neck. I peek into the garden and see that the azalea bushes on the far side of the garden were quivering.

I notch an arrow and rush over to the bushes. A dark green snake head darts out from the top of the bush. I jump back quickly as it tries to strike me.

I let my arrow loose and it pierces the thing's head. I breathe a sigh of relief as it thuds to the ground.

As I'm walking out of the garden, I hear more rustling.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." I say under my breath.

I turn back around to see something around the size of a small black bear emerging from the bushes.

I had never encountered a creature like this, but then, there are several monsters in Greek mythology. It's pretty hard to know every single one and also to encounter every one.

It looked to be half baby Hydra and half coyote. The top half had several snake heads branching off of it, and the bottom half was the thick, red-brown hair of a coyote.

I bring out my bow again and notch an arrow. The thing had incredible speed. Right as I notched the arrow, it was on top of me, pushing me down.

I land painfully on my elbows, scraping them up in the process. Its heads start trying to strike my face. I could see in the bright sunlight that all the fangs were coated in a pinkish acid.

I drop my bow and punch one of the snakes away from my face. I quickly unsheathe one of my daggers and stab the thing in its side. Before I know it, it's dead, crumbling into dust at my feet.

I put my dagger up and start heading out of the garden, breathing heavily.

I make it to the patio chairs and practically collapse into one of them. I look down at my hands and see that they're shaking.

"What in the world..?" I say, looking at them curiously.

This had never happened after I had killed a monster before. Then I turn my arm over and see a long gash on my forearm. The blood seeping out of it seemed to be bubbling almost. It was changing colors too. From scarlet red to dark purple to blue, almost black.

I draw in a sharp breath and quickly stand up from the chair. I have to steady myself on the table though because my head had started to spin. I make my way back to the studio entrance as fast as I can.

I throw open the door, entering the small display area, and walk over to the desk where the cash register and my things where.

"Ms. Kyra? I need some help." someone calls from the studio.

"Uhm, just a second." I say, struggling for breath now.

I sit heavily on the bench behind the desk and grab my backpack. I rip it open and rifle through it, looking for some ambrosia squares.

I find the Ziploc and pull it out of the bag, ripping it open as I do.

I break one in half and shove it into my mouth. The dizziness instantly started leaving my head and I was able to breathe easily again. I give a sigh if relief and close the Ziploc up again, putting it back into my bag. I look at my forearm and see that the gash had already closed up, the scar fading fast.

I get up from the bench and go into the studio to help them. Gods, that had been a close one.

**A/N:**

**Just a day in the life of Kyra. Yes, she owns and runs a pottery studio 'cause why not? Things are finally about to heat up. I hate how long it's taken for things to progress, but since I introduced new characters, you guys needed to get to know them a little before I just jumped into everything.**

**Well, my Tuesday has been ****_wonderful _****so far...Not. I woke up this morning after having one of those goddamn anxiety dreams to have an absolutely awful guest review on ****The Adventure****. I didn't allow it to be posted, but I'll just say that it ended with, "'I am utterly disgusted by your writing. Go to Hell.'" **

**Okay, first of all, I'm up for criticism. It helps me improve my writing and all. And I'm quite aware of the fact that ****The Adventure**** was my first story ever and it's not nearly as well written as my other stories because, again, ****_it was my first story. _****I was very new in the world of writing and didn't quite know what the hell I was doing.**

**But ****_really?! _****Telling me to go to fucking Hell just because they didn't like my story? That's taking it a bit too far. I mean, everyone on here is an actual person with actual feelings that can get really badly hurt. In my case, it makes me sorta hate myself, think I'm not good enough to be writing anything at all and I should just give up entirely.**

**But then I keep telling myself, "You've met some of the best people on here. One of your best friends that you talk to every fucking day and helps you get through pretty much everything you met on here, ****_though your writing._**** These people love your writing and just because one stupid person didn't like it doesn't mean you should stop."******

**It bothered me greatly when I read that review this morning. Mostly it just made me really angry. I mean, as I said before, I'm up for criticism, but it pushed it a bit too far with that last piece. So if this person hadn't reviewed as a guest, I'd probably message them and tell them to fuck themselves. **

**So, word of advice, don't tell someone to go to Hell or kill themselves if you don't like something they created. Most likely, they spent an ass load of time on it and they're really proud of it. If you say something like that, it can hurt really bad. Remember, we're all people here, there is absolutely ****_no need for hate whatsoever. _**

**M/A:**

**Today's song is ****Amy**** by ****Green Day.**** I love this song so much. Mostly because it sounds so different from what GD usually puts out there, and it's just a really pretty song.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"Jamie!" I hear Lydia call.

I turn around to see her walking up to me, a bow and quiver swung behind her. She must have just finished shooting targets during her free time today.

"Yea?" I ask.

"I heard about who claimed Adrienne." she says. The tone of her voice sounded somber.

"Okay..?" I say, confused.

"I'm so sorry. I know you probably wanted her to be a granddaughter of Apollo, not the filth known as Hades." she says.

I reel back and say, "Wait, what are you trying to say? That she's a disgrace to my family or something?"

"Well..." she says, looking down at her feet.

"Let me stop you there, Lydia. Hades is a pretty kick-ass god, and if you're saying that Adrienne, as his granddaughter, is a disgrace, then what do you think about my dad, who's the _son_ of Hades?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Well, it's just Hades was an outcast for so long, he was only accepted amongst the gods on Olympus a short time ago, I just thought you—" she trails off.

"Thought I what? Was embarrassed of my dad? Are you kidding me? Lydia, he's one of the most powerful guys I know, and he's pretty awesome. If you think I'm just going to disown my family just because of their parentage, you're wrong. Let me tell you something, you've only been here for a year. You have no _idea_ what you're talking about, so I'd suggest just keeping your mouth shut." I say, then turn my back on her and start making my way to the lake.

* * *

"James, I've been looking for you all over, man." Sam says, sitting down next to me on the docks and patting my back a couple of times.

"What happened between you and Lyd? She came back to the cabin in tears." he says.

I scowl and say, "I didn't mean to make her cry."

"Well, what'd you say to her?" he asks. I could tell that if I didn't tell him soon, he'd explode from curiosity.

"She came up to me earlier and told me she was sorry for me since Adrienne had been claimed by Hades and not Apollo." I say.

"_And_?" he asks, sensing that there was more to the story.

"So I asked her if she was saying that Adrienne was a disgrace to my family and she basically said that she had been implying that. So then I asked her if she assumed that I thought that about my dad too. She didn't really answer. She just came up with that since Hades has only recently been accepted by the Olympians that I just didn't like my dad or Adrienne." I say, still fuming about the conversation.

"Man, I can't believe she said that to _you, _of all people." he says, baffled.

"I suppose that's Lydia for you. Always poking into business that isn't hers." I say, shrugging.

"C'mon, man. Lets go eat dinner." he says, standing up.

"I'll meet you there in a few minutes." I say, staring down at the water.

"Alright. See you there." he says.

He walks away from me, heading in the direction of the mess hall. My first year at Camp, mom had brought me down here to the docks and told me she used to spend a lot of time here thinking.

I can see why now. It's very peaceful just watching the naiads weave their never ending baskets; listening to the water lap against the dock; it's quiet.

A couple of the naiads take a break from weaving and look up at me. They giggle, making a few bubbles come up to the surface of the water. I smile and shake my head, then get to my feet.

The sun was starting to set, so I figured I better get up to the mess hall before the Apollo cabin came looking for me.

**A/N:**

**Shortish chapter, but of well. I wanted to make Lydia sort of a snobbish character, and I think I succeeded. You'll find out more about what Sam meant when he said, "'...****_you,_**** of all people.'" in chapter ten. I think you guys are gonna ****_love _****the next chapter :3**

**I'm so excited for you to read it!**

**Well, today it was just me and the older of the two brothers in class. Surprisingly, it was actually nice. We finished up early and walked down to the café down the street and he ate lunch. Before that though, we played with the tic-tac-toe game that was on our table and we talked and it was just really nice. I was actually able to have a conversation with him without getting insulted or just irritated with him.**

**And it was really sweet. At one point while we were waiting for his food to come out, he noticed the blue rubber band I have on my right wrist. He asked me what it was for and I just sorta shrugged and said I liked wearing it. Then I opened up and told him that it was actually for my panic attacks that I have every now and then, snap it against my wrist and it (for some reason) calms me down a little. He sorta just nodded and a few minutes later his food came out.**

**Then when we went back to the studio to clean up our wheels, he was cleaning his and he said, "Do you play any instruments?" and I told him I didn't and he said, "You should. I've heard that playing any type of instrument helps with anxiety, maybe it would work for you." **

**I just thought it was really sweet, 'cause he sounded genuinely concerned about my panic attacks and he wanted to help.**

**And I'm getting so frustrated with my friend, the one that also takes pottery with me. I understand being busy and all, but good god. She flakes out on me all the time when we have plans. Like, say we made plans two weeks ago to go to the mall. Well, the day we would be going, she'd call last minute and say she couldn't. Now, I'll forgive this kinda stuff a few times, but this has happened countless times now. **

**It just makes me so angry, with her and with myself. With her for obvious reasons, and with myself because I keep surrounding myself with flaky people. That's pretty much the only kind of friends I've ever had, people who flake out on me all the time. **

**And I'm always there for some reason, willing to let them back into my life when they're having issues they need to talk about. **

**Like, just last week, the same friend mentioned above, called me and asked if she could come over. She claimed that she had had a really bad day and needed to talk to her best friend. So I said yes and we went to the park a few minutes away from my house. As we were going over there, she was telling me that she and her boyfriend had had plans to hang out that night and then he just called her when she was about to head over to his house and he said that two of his friends were spending the night so he couldn't hang out. She got all angry and hurt, and I understand this because that was a bit of a shallow move on his part, I mean, they had plans and last minute he just decided to invite over friends. **

**But then, as she's telling me about this, she turns to me and says, "You have no idea how it feels to have plans and then have the other person cancel last minute." God, I wanted to smack her so bad and scream, "YES I FUCKING DO! YOU DO IT TO ME ALL THE FUCKING TIME!" I ****_didn't_**** do that, but damn, I wanted to. **

**Sometimes I wish I could just go back five years ago and still be 10 years old and have my two best friends that lived across the street and just be happy like that again. Of course, that's impossible, going back in time. **

**And y'know what I just realized last night? Each one of these A/Ns is like a little (sometimes giant) journal entry for me. How I never realized that before, I dunno. Just thought that was...Cool? Interesting? I dunno.**

**M/A:**

**Point of Know Return**** by ****Kansas**** is today's song. I mean, it's ****Kansas****, how can a person ****_not _****like ****Kansas.**** It's perfectly fantastic classic rock. **

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

As I pull into the driveway, I get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I park the car right outside the garage and get out, leaving my backpack in the passenger seat.

I make my way to the front door and just as I'm about to put my key in the lock, I notice that the door's slightly ajar. The weird feeling intensifies, to say the least.

I slowly push open the door, to find the house extremely dark. This was odd because we usually leave a lamp on so we can see when we come in. I flip the light switch and see that the whole house was in shambles.

Pictures that had been hung on the wall were knocked down or smashed; furniture was flipped over and shredded, leaving the stuffing all over the place; papers were scattered all over the floor; the coat closet was emptied, all its contents scattered on the floor. On the walls, there were messages spray painted with red paint.

There was an odd scent in the air too. Almost like a guy's cologne mixed with the musty smell of monsters.

I quickly head into the kitchen, to find it just as torn up as the living room. I feel under the counter by the sink and press the small button hidden under the ledge.

There's a small beep and then a section of the black and white checkered floor slides back, revealing a staircase.

I quickly make my way down the stairs and into the emergency weaponry Nico and I had installed, with the help of Leo, when we had built this house.

As I make my way down the steps, torches mounted on the wall light up with the green flames that the Underworld is known for.

When I finally make it to the bottom, I look around and give a sigh of relief. Nothing had been touched down here. Everything was exactly how we had left it the last time we had been down here.

I quickly grab one of the large tote bags from a drawer and set it on the table in the middle of the room. I go around the room, collecting various weapons.

I grab a bow and two quivers full of arrows, four daggers, a couple of swords, some throwing stars, and some other weapons. I go over to a drawer and open it. I grab the two emergency debit cards and some cash and place everything into the bag.

I zip it up and then start making my way back up the stairs. I know it could have been just a simple break in, but I had a feeling that this wasn't what it was at all. It was the start of something horrible.

* * *

"Misses di Angelo. Why are you here so early? Michael doesn't need to be picked up until 2 o'clock." Michael's teacher, Ms. Amy, says.

"Family emergency. I need him now." I say, trying to stay calm.

"Oh, is everything alright?" she asks, concern in her light brown eyes.

"My father has fallen terribly ill. Nico and I are getting the kids together so we can head down to my parents' house in Baltimore and be there with them." I say.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'll go get him right away." she says, heading into the back where all the kids were.

She comes back a few minutes later, holding Michael's hand. He was smiling and carrying his lunch box in his other hand.

"He probably won't be here for the last few days of kindergarten." I say.

"I totally understand. I hope your father gets well soon." she calls as I walk out the door with Mike.

"Mama, where are we goin'?" Mike asks as I back out of the parking space.

"We're going to safe place." I say.

"Is daddy goin' to be there too?" he asks.

"Yes. We'll see him soon." I say.

* * *

"Hey, I was just about to call and tell you I'm about to leave. I'll be at the house in a couple of minutes." Nico says as he answers his phone.

"No!" I say.

"What? Why? What's going on, Ky?" he asks, alarm in his voice.

"Someone broke into the house earlier today. The whole place was torn up." I say.

"Ky, are you sure it wasn't just a regular burglary?" he asks, skeptical.

"Yes, I'm sure. The whole place smelled like monsters. I'm positive that it wasn't just a regular break in. Things were smashed, making it look like whoever did it was looking for something." I say, pacing.

"Kyra, burglars are always looking for something. I mean, they break into houses because they're looking for something to steal." he says. I could tell he wasn't buying it.

"Listen, I know what I'm talking about. I've got Mike and we're at the safe house in Pennsylvania." I say.

"Good gods of Olympus, Kyra! Why did you drive all the way down there? We've got another one in New York. It would've been much closer than driving all the way there." he says.

"Nico, I'm not joking. I wanted to get as far away from home as possible tonight." I say.

He sighs and I can just see him closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

"Fine. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. Tomorrow though, I'm going back to the house to check it out myself." he says.

"You don't trust me?" I ask.

"No, it's not that. I just want to see it for myself, that's all." he says.

"Fine. I'll see you in a few minutes." I say.

I end the call and go into the second bedroom. Mike was in there, playing with his toys, as happy as he could be.

"Where's daddy?" he asks.

"He'll be here in a few minutes." I say, brushing his black curls out of his eyes.

"Oh, okay." he says, then goes back to his toys.

I watch him for a few more minutes then hear the front door close. I unsheathe one of my daggers and walk out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me.

"Ky?" I hear Nico call.

I sigh and place my dagger back into it's sheathe. I go into the small living room to find Nico hanging up his worn leather jacket on one of the pegs.

"Where's Mike?" he asks.

"In the bedroom, playing with his toys." I say.

"Ah." he says, nodding.

"Nico, I'm scared." I say, sitting down in one of the cushy chairs.

"Why?" he asks.

"The house today—it just was so awful. I could tell that the person or monster who did all that damage was furious when they did it." I say, resting my head in my hands.

"And how's that?" he asks, sitting in the chair next to me.

"The pictures on the walls, they were smashed." I say.

"So?" he asks.

"All the pictures that you and I are in, our faces are scratched out with a black marker." I say.

"Oh." he says.

"And there were words painted on the walls." I say.

"What did they say?" he asks, starting to sound like he believed me about it not being "just a burglary."

"Stuff like 'die bitch' and 'you'll pay for what you did.'" I say.

"Whoa. Who would do that though?" he asks.

"I don't know. And I think that's what scares me the most. I don't know who it is." I say.

"We're going to figure this out. We'll be alright." he says, taking my hand.

"I hope you're right." I say.

**A/N:**

**Ahh, finally getting to the good stuff! I was sooo excited for you guys to read this chapter. I've found that Kyra's chapters are going to be longer than James', at least for a little bit. Like the next chapter is about two and a half pages in the word program I use, and chapter eleven is nearly six pages long. I think they'll eventually equal each other out.**

**So winter hit like overnight where I am. Yesterday it was in the 50's and today I woke up and it was in the upper 30's. And it's windy and it's starting to snow a little bit, not much at all though, just flurries.**

**So I've come to the conclusion that Tuesdays and Saturdays are my favorite days of the week. Not because I update, though that does contribute to it since I get to talk to you guys, but just because for some reason they're better.**

**M/A:**

**Today's song is ****Golden**** by ****Fall Out Boy.**** God, that song is so amazing. Patrick Stump's voice is just so beautiful in it, but then, when is it ****_not _****beautiful?**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"James." Lydia says, looking up at me.

I had just gotten to the mess hall. Pretty much everyone else had thrown their offering into the brazier and was already eating.

I ignore her and sit down at the table, having tossed a few strawberries into the fire.

"James, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you like that." she says.

"Wait, what did I miss?" Gail asks.

"You mean you didn't intend to insult my family quite plainly to my face? Who would've thought that _that_ would upset me?" I ask, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

Sam was looking down at his food, wisely staying out of this. Gail was sitting next to Lydia, her aquamarine colored eyes darting back and forth between us. She had the most confused look on her face I had ever seen on someone.

"I really—I don't know what came over me. I really am sorry, James." Lydia says, running her fingers through her long, wavy golden hair, tears brimming her eyes.

I glare at her, still pretty pissed off, and stand up from the table. I had barely touched my food, but I wasn't hungry.

"James, wait!" she calls after me.

I don't turn around.

"Lyd, just give it some time. You really hit a spot when you talked to him today." I hear Sam say.

Sam knew all about the "spot" she had hit. Lydia had only just gotten here last year. She had no idea what teasing and names I had been called over the past few years for having a son of Hades as a dad.

* * *

"James? What are you doing here?" Adrienne asks, sitting down next to me on the Apollo cabin steps, "And why did you just storm out of the mess hall?"

"Lydia was getting on my nerves, that's all." I say.

"Seemed like there was a little more to it than that." she says.

I sigh and look up at the stars. They were sparkling in the nearly black sky, as they did every night. This is one of the things I loved about Camp. We were out in the country, away from pretty much all mortal civilization. There weren't any city lights polluting the sky out here. I suppose that's why mom and dad built our house basically in the woods of northern New York. It reminded them of Camp.

I debate with myself on weather I should tell Adrienne about the conversation Lydia and I had had today.

If I told her, she'd most likely get really angry and try to strangle Lydia. She had just a bit of dad's temper, to say the least. If I didn't tell her though, she'd keep asking me what was wrong every second she was with me.

"Okay, if I tell you, you have to promise not to try and kill Lydia." I say, turning to look at her.

"Okay, I promise." she says, looking at me curiously.

I then plunge into what Lydia had said. All about her and dad being a disgrace to the family, as well as Hades himself being an outcast and not belonging with the Olympians.

When I was finished, I was almost afraid to look at her. I build up my courage and do it anyway though.

Her dark eyes were practically glowing with anger. She had a frown on her face and her hands were balled into fists.

"Addie, it's alright." I say, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"No! It's not alright!" she explodes, jumping up from the steps, "She should have known better than that. She's older than you, for gods' sakes!"

"Only by a year. Sometimes age doesn't make a difference though. Even some adults are the most childish people on the planet." I say.

"She still should have known better." she grumbles.

"I'd say she's learned her lesson now. I don't think she'll go around judging people by their parentage anymore." I say, standing up, "C'mon, kiddo. Let's go to the campfire."

I didn't want to talk about this anymore, and I really didn't want Addie getting any more angry than she already was. I was afraid that if we talked about this more, she'd march right back to the mess hall and strangle Lydia right in front of everyone.

**A/N:**

**Shortish chapter, but I told y'all that James' would be shorter than Kyra's, at least for a while.**

**So, do you think James is taking this a bit too far, or do you think Lydia is getting what she deserves? Honestly, I think she's getting what she deserves. I mean, you don't just walk up to someone and tell them that their little sister and dad are a disgrace and that your grandfather was a complete and total outcast and always will be. **

**Tuesday's chapter-holy fuck, it's awesome. You guys are gonna love it, and quite possibly hate me as well...But oh well! **

**Ugh. Today was a very long and busy day. My alarm clock went off at 9:20 (and I actually got up a couple of minutes later. Amazing, I know), and then I got ready and at about 10:45 my teacher came and got me and we went to the studio. She had to pick me up because both of my parents were at work and my friend wasn't going to class this morning.**

**So anyway, I was at the studio till about 3:30. I made ****_a lot _****of stuff today. I used probably about 20-25 pounds of clay, and the result was: three lidded pots, two serving bowls that should stack together, and three mugs. Like I said, I was busy today. **

**And then when she was taking me home, we stopped at the local coffee shop and she got me a smoothie ^_^**

**It was quite delicious. **

**So my clay diminished greatly today. I think that's the most things I've ever made in one class. But then, I did stay three and a half hours late. **

**But I stole 10-15 pounds from my friend (the one who wasn't there) because she had a ****_ton_**** of unused clay that she'll never use and I put it all away for her since it had been drying out. She'll never even notice it's gone since she's barely there. And I think I deserved it anyway and my teacher said I could take it, so I did. Plus, it wouldn't all fit in one bag. One bag of clay that's never been opened is 25 pounds and she had at least 35-40, maybe more, just to give you an idea on how much she had. So yea, I took some of that. **

**M/A:**

**Today's song is...****The Reason**** by ****Hoobastank****. That song is so perfect, I could listen to it all fucking day and never grow tired of it. **

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

_Darkness. That's all I could see; darkness. I'd close my eyes and then I'd open them and see the same thing as when they were closed; absolutely nothing._

_I couldn't move. It felt like my wrists and ankles were bound with rope or something, I couldn't tell. I was leaning against something hard and uneven, it was cold and damp too. Almost like the wall of a cave or a tunnel._

_I hear something beside me. Two things, actually. A sniffling, as if someone were crying, and a sort of sawing sound._

_I lean over, only to bump into something smooth and warm. It was another person._

_"Hello?" I ask, my voice quite, yet rough. I then realized that I was extremely thirsty. My throat felt like sandpaper._

_"Oh, thank the gods." I hear Nico say._

_"Mama? Are you alright?" I hear Mike ask._

_There's a loud '_bang_' and the wall we were leaning against and the floor beneath us started to shake._

* * *

I wake up with a start, only to find that the banging and the shaking from the dream had not stopped when I had woken up.

"Nico." I hiss, shaking him roughly so he'd wake up.

"Wha? Ky, what's that?" he asks, yawning and sitting up, sleepily.

"C'mon." I say, pulling him out of the bed.

I open the bedroom door, gripping a dagger tightly in my hand. Nico was right behind me, wide awake now, and yielding his Stygian Iron sword.

We quickly make our way down the hall and to the smaller bedroom where Michael was sleeping. I open the door and gasp.

There was a tall, shadowy figure standing over Mike's bed, watching him as he slept peacefully. Mike was just like Nico when it came to sleeping; hard and nearly impossible to wake.

The figure turns around and looks up, revealing his face. He had pale skin, speckled with a few freckles. His eyes glowed red and two fangs protruded from his mouth.

He was wearing dark blue jeans and black combat boots, a white tee shirt, and a black leather jacket. His hair was a dark auburn color and slicked back. He looked almost like a greaser from the 1950s.

"Shh. Don't want to wake the child now, do we?" he asks, walking over to Nico and I. His voice was deep, and his accent suggested that he had grown up in New York.

"Who are you?" I ask, my bow in my hands now and an arrow notched.

"Well, that's for me to know and for you to never find out." he says, a smirk on his face.

"Why you—" I start.

"Ky." Nico says, holding me back, "Look."

He points to Mike and I see a another figure standing over him, a deadly looking dagger hovering just above his head.

"Please, don't." I say, my eyes widening.

"Well, if you don't want me to have my servant kill your precious Michael here, you and Nico are going to have to obey me. Otherwise, that dagger goes straight through his skull. Do you understand?" he asks.

I look at Mike and then back to the strange man. I nod and he gives me a smug look.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to just kill off your youngest child." he says, "Get the kid, Jessica. We're leaving."

The servant, Jessica, sheathes the dagger and grabs up Mike. Then he starts to wake up. As they walk past Nico and I, he starts to scream to us.

"Mama! Daddy!" he screams, kicking at Jessica and trying to get loose.

I feel a tear run down my face and I wipe it away.

"No." I say, my voice quivering.

"What?" Nico says, sounding like the life had been taken out of him.

"I'm not just going to stand here and let them take him. I don't care. They're not just taking him." I say, running after them, Nico on my heels.

Mike's screams and protests had become fainter since they were outside now. The shaking and banging was still going on, but its intensity had lessened a little.

I burst out of the house to see a giant, oozing mess of goo. The goo had what I suppose is considered a face, legs and arms, and also a couple of giant serpents attached to it as well.

I stop short and look up at the thing.

"Wh-what is that thing?" I ask Nico.

"I don't know." he says, breathless.

I come out of my stupor as I hear Mike's screams start up again. I look and see that they were loading him into a car, with difficulty, I might add.

I rush over, notching an arrow and letting it fly. It lodged itself right into Jessica's head, spraying blood all over the place. She falls to the ground, limp. This did not help Mike's terror in any way.

"Jessica! What the hell is taking so long?" the guy yells. Apparently he hadn't seen what had happened to Jessica.

Just as Nico and I reach the car, the guy gets out, on the passenger side, and a look of surprise crosses his face for a split second. His features harden and he sets his jaw.

"Kill them!" he shouts up at the giant goo mess.

The thing roars and throws it's head back. Then it steps forward, leaving a puddle of goo where it had previously been standing.

"Go distract that guy and get Mike. I'll take care of this thing." I say.

"But Ky—" he starts.

"Go. I've got it." I say.

He gives me a look and then sighs. I could tell he didn't want to leave me, but he needed to protect Mike as well.

* * *

I had been fighting for a good 30 minutes. I was growing weary, to say the least. By this point, I was well aware of the fact that I wasn't a teenager anymore, and haven't been for quite some time. I wasn't paying much attention to Nico or Mike. This gross ball of goo was occupying pretty much all of my time.

I shoot an arrow into its abdomen, but it doesn't seem to even faze the thing. It roars and then shoots a stream of goo out of its mouth and towards me. It always seemed like _I_ was getting something shot at me by a monster. I mean, honestly, can't they think of something better to do with their time? Like maybe clean up the planet or something?

I hear Nico shout behind me and the other guy laugh. Mike screams and I whirl around. Nico was on the ground, curled up in a ball and clutching his stomach. I could see a dark stain spreading across the fabric of his shirt.

I completely forget the monster behind me and rush over to him. As I get closer, the guy steps in front of me, an evilly smug look on his face.

"Move." I say through my teeth.

"And what if I don't want to?" he asks, looking at his nails.

"Then I'll do this." I say, quickly unsheathing a dagger and stabbing it into his arm. It went straight through his flesh, blood immediately flowing out and splashing onto the pavement.

"You fucking bitch!" he screams, clutching his arm.

I take my chance and move around him, kneeling in front of Nico. He had his eyes squinted shut and I could tell he was gritting his teeth, trying to distract himself from the pain.

I roll him over and he opens his eyes a little. I move his hands off of his stomach and see a deep gash.

"You picked one of the best times in the world to get hurt." I say, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I know, I know. I'm the master of good timing, aren't I?" he grunts, trying, and failing, to smirk at me.

"You're the master of a lot of things, Nico, but good timing isn't one of 'em. Just hold on a second." I say.

I start to dig into my pocket, then realize that I'm in my pajamas still. I curse under my breath and then pick up my dagger again and rip the bottom part of my shirt off. I wad it up and press it against Nico's wound.

This reminded me of senior prom night when Mo had taken Keegan's arrow for me. I cringe at the horrid memory. I still hadn't quite forgiven myself for killing Keegan, even after all these years.

"We can't leave them here. They'll just contact their buddies and come get him. It'd be better if I took them as well." I hear the guy mumble behind me.

I tear my attention away from Nico and look behind me at him. He seemed to be perfectly healed now, even though moments before he had been clutching his wounded arm. He was pacing back and forth, in his own little world.

He freezes and looks up at the creature, seemingly coming to a conclusion. "Grab them! Don't kill them! Follow me!" he shouts up at the goo monster.

My eyes widen and I quickly start trying to heave Nico to his feet, while also trying to grab Mike out of the car at the same time. Before I can do either successfully though, I feel a hand wrap around my waist and I'm lifted high off the ground.

The thing had gotten me, and in his other hand was Nico. I sigh and prop my arms up on the thing's gigantic fingers, resting my chin in my hand.

There was no use in fighting back now. It would be impossible trying to free myself from this thing's grip. And even if I did, what would I do if I managed it? Fall to my death? It was hopeless. It was better just to stay awake and see what happens when we reach our destination.

**A/N:**

**So who do you think this guy is, and what's his connection to Kyra's family? And how do you think he got his hands on that goo monster?**

**The next chapter is kinda cute towards the end. Oh! And you also meet Tristan! I think you guys will like him. I mean, he's Will's son, so how bad could he really be?**

**Well, last night I was very productive when it comes to writing. I ****_finally _****finished writing my story ****Brutal Love****. It's about time too, since I've been writing it for months now. That one was really difficult to write because it was so depressing. I had to stop writing in the middle of a chapter a couple of times 'cause it would get to me. Then I'd have to go and write something happy for a little while before I could return to it. **

**But anyway, I wrote for about three hours straight and finished it. Of course, I'll have to go back and edit it, but the main stuff is all there. **

**AHH! NEW SUPERNATURAL TONIGHT! I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT TODAY'S EPISODE IS ABOUT, BUT I DON'T CARE! **

**Heh. Can you tell I'm excited?**

**Also, I found a bunch of new bands to listen to last night! Some of which are: ****Daisyhead****, ****Band of Skulls****, ****Devour the Day****, ****Night Terrors of 1972****, and ****D.D Dumbo****. There were some others, but those are just the ones I can remember at the moment.**

**M/A:**

**_"'If I could get another chance, _**

**_I'd put it in a zip-lock bag!'"_**

**That, my dears, is the beginning lines to the chorus of ****Zip-Lock**** by ****Lit****. It's one of my favorites, my brother used to listen to it all the time ^_^**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

When I had come back to the cabin the other night after the campfire, Lydia had practically dissolved into a puddle of tears while saying she was sorry over and over again. It had been three days since that night and I was still giving her the cold shoulder.

Most people would think I'm being a total jerk, but I'm not. I can tell she's not actually sorry for what she said to me, what she said about my family.

I'm honestly surprised Hades himself didn't make an army of skeletons erupt from the ground and drag her into the Underworld after she insulted him. But then, I suppose he's used to insults like that after thousands of years of it from pretty much all the gods.

Addie was still pretty angry about it though. Any time she saw Lydia, she gave her death glares. And these weren't just your regular, run of the mill, death glares. These were "I'm going to kill you in your sleep" death glares. Sometimes I worried about her.

"James!" someone calls, breaking me out my thoughts.

I turn around to see Tristan jogging over to me. He was 17 now, and he looked it. He was tall and muscular, his skin was tanned to perfection, and his dark hair gleamed in the sunlight. He definitely looked more like his mom than Uncle Will.

"Hey." I say.

"How was school this year?" he asks, sitting down next to me on the dock.

"Alright, I suppose." I say, shrugging.

"Oh, come on. Any girlfriends?" he asks, nudging my shoulder.

I smirk and say, "Well, not really. There was this one girl, but I found out she was a major slut."

"Oh really? And what was this girl's name?" he asks.

"Tabitha." I say.

"Ah. I think I dated a Tabitha a few years back. That ended badly." he says.

"Badly how?" I ask, turning to look at him.

"Found her with one of my band mates. Not fun talking out that one." he says, shaking his head.

"Man, that's awful. Ever talk to her after that?" I ask.

"Nah. She moved to Hawaii a month after all of it happened. Her dad traveled a lot with his work." he says.

"Gotcha." I say.

"So, I heard Adrienne is here now?" he asks.

"Yea." I sigh, laying down on the rough wood and looking up at the cloudless sky.

"Why a heavy sigh? Is it not working out? She annoying you?" he asks.

"Oh, no. She's great here. Awesome at training and all that. It's just that Hades claimed her and then Lydia just—ugh." I say.

"Oh boy. What did Lyd say?" he asks.

I rehash the conversation, once again. He leans back on his elbows and looks up at the sky as he listens to me. The frown on his face was growing deeper the more I talked.

When I finish, he sits there for a few minutes, looking at the glittering, wavy water. "She actually said that?" he finally asks, glancing at me.

I nod. "Yea. I sorta blew up on her and I haven't really talked to her since." I say.

"I don't blame you for blowing up on her. What she said was uncalled for. But why haven't you talked to her since? Has she not apologized?" he asked.

"No. She has." I say.

"Then why can't you just make up with her and move past it, James? It's not that hard." he says, obviously annoyed.

"She's apologized, but she didn't mean it. I could see it in her eyes. I'm not accepting her apology until it's a real one." I say, crossing my arms.

Tristan sighs and covers his sapphire blue eyes with his hand. "Alright, why don't I talk to her and see what's up. Then I'll come and talk to you and letcha know what she said." he says.

"Fine." I say.

"Okay. I'll go find her and talk to her. I want to get this resolved as soon as possible. Gods, I mean, we all have to spend the whole summer together. It'll be much easier to do that if we can all get along for five minutes." he says, getting up and dusting off his khaki cargo shorts.

He walks away in search of Lydia. I stay on the dock a little while longer. I look out at the small island in the middle of the lake with the giant olive tree on it. Mom had said that that used to be another one of her and dad's hangouts when they came to Camp. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they had had _a lot _of hangouts.

Soon, the horn sounds, signaling training time, and I get onto my feet. I dust myself off and take one last look at the sparkling water. It almost looked like green and yellow flames with the rising sun beating down on it.

I give a small smile and a wave to the three naiads below me and they giggle, making a few bubbles rise to the surface of the water. They seemed to giggle a lot. I smirk and then turn away, heading back down the dock and off to the sword arena.

* * *

"Nice form, James!" Cory, this year's instructor, says. Cory was a son of Nike, 17 years old, and extremely athletic and competitive. He made an excellent teacher.

I spar with Fletcher for a few more minutes and then he suddenly just stops fighting back. I knock his sword out of his hand, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Fletch, what are you staring at?" I ask, starting to turn around.

Before I can fully look and see what he was staring at, something smacks into my side and knocks me to the ground. My sword flies out of my hand and skitters five feet away.

"Jamie!" I hear Addie squeal.

I groan and squint open my eyes, to find her wrapped around me and her face buried into my chest.

"Addie, _what_ are you _doing_?" I ask, struggling to get up with her still clinging to me.

All the other campers in the arena were staring at us, some trying to hide their snickers. I feel my cheeks grow red and I look back down at Adrienne. She mumbles something into my shirt, but I can't understand her.

"What? I can't hear you." I say.

"I saw a bug in my cabin." she says.

"Are you kidding me? I was in the middle of training and you interrupted me for that? Can't you just kill it yourself?" I ask, finally getting her off of me.

She looks up at me, giving me puppy dog eyes. That look never failed her since her eyes were such a pitiful dark brown. Those eyes could talk you into almost anything.

I sigh and roll my eyes, turning to look at Cory. "Go on, James. I'll take your place with Fletcher. Just come back later and we'll finish up, one on one." he says.

I nod and sheath my sword. Adrienne was already halfway to the exit by this point. I sigh and hurry after her as she leads the way to the Hades cabin.

* * *

When we get to the cabin, she opens the door and I walk in. I look around and under the bunk beds and behind the trunks and come up with nothing. I turn around and glare at her.

"Well, there's no bug. Can I get back to training now?" I ask, irritated with her. I mean, why couldn't she just kill the so called bug in the first place?

"No! It might come back!" she shrieks.

I sigh. "Adrienne, really. There's not a bug anywhere in this cabin. I checked." I say.

"Can I come with you then?" she asks, "Please." she whispers.

I was taken aback by the look in her eyes. It was almost pure terror. I had never known Adrienne to be this frightened over a little bug.

"Uh, we'll have to talk to Chiron and make sure it's okay for you to change your training schedule, but I'm sure it won't be a problem." I say, softening, placing a hand on her shoulder and guiding her out of the cabin.

"Thank you, Jamie." she says.

"No problem, kiddo." I say.

I close the door behind us and we start walking back to the sword arena. I had no idea what that was about, but I intended to find out.

**A/N :**

**If you haven't noticed by now, James calls Adrienne "kiddo" a lot. Their relationship is sorta like the one I have with my brother. And yes, I'm aware that pretty much all siblings who are only four years apart usually tend to fight and bicker a lot, but some are different.**

**And this chapter takes place the same morning as the last chapter did, if that was confusing to anyone. I really hate timelines. That's my least favorite part of writing a story, going back and making sure the timeline matches up and all. Ugh, why does it have to be so fucking difficult?! I just finished mapping out all the chapters and what day they take place, it's such a pain.**

**The next chapter is so fucking long. I was going over it today and it's about 7 and a half pages in the word program I use. **

**It's really driving me insane at class. It's just one thing after another. As soon as one rough situation gets solved, another pops up. So I'm sure you guys remember the two brothers that I've ranted about before? Well, the younger of the two left, at least for a little while, because he's in a play and rehearsals are on Thursdays at the same time class is. So right now it's just me, three other girls, my friend, and the older brother.**

**Okay, so this set up was really nice because the older brother is being less idiotic and annoying. He's really not all that bad when it's just him. But now, my friend is flaking out on pretty much every class and, since we're friends, everyone always turns to me and asks me where she is. Honestly? I DON'T FUCKING KNOW.**

**It just gets on my nerves. I guess because it just feels like we're not as close as we used to be. I feel like she's purposefully flaking out and she doesn't want to spend time with me anymore. She'd rather be hanging out with her boyfriend all the fucking time and all her stuck up friends. And whenever we do hang out and I'm telling her about something that's bothering me, she doesn't really seem to care one way or the other, like she's barely even paying attention to what I'm saying. So most of the time, I don't tell her about my problems. 'Cause I mean, why waste the breath on someone who couldn't give less of a fuck?**

**It's one of those things that hurts really bad because you can just see that you're becoming strangers with the person who's supposed to be your best friend, and any time you try and fix it, it seems like it works for a couple of days and then everything goes back to barely talking and just...painful reality.**

**Okay, I don't want to talk about that anymore. Just needed to get it off my chest, y'know?**

**So yesterday I got another readjustment on my braces. My teeth are sore as fuck today. They put in my "final wire" on my bottom teeth and something called a "closing chain," also on my bottom teeth. Now all I have to do is to remember to wear my rubber bands and hopefully I'll have them off relatively soon. I go back in three weeks for another readjustment and I know that if I don't wear my rubber bands, I'll get fussed at...again.**

**I can't wait to get these things off, I hate them so much. I envy people who never need braces. You're lucky! They don't really hurt, they're just a pain in the ass. I mean, yea your teeth get sore, but it's not excruciatingly painful.**

**M/A:**

_**"'My eyes blew out I could finally see  
Warm magical tropical oceans'"**_

**Lines to the song ****Tropical Oceans**** by ****D.D Dumbo****. I love this song, it sounds psychedelic almost, and I think that's why I love it. It's just awesome ^.^**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

I really don't know how long this thing has been carrying Nico and I. We had cut through the woods around the safe house, I assumed so the mortals wouldn't freak out when they saw—well, whatever the Mist would cloak the creature as.

If I had to guess though, I'd say the thing had been carrying us for about three hours now. The sun had just come up about thirty minutes ago, lighting the sky in pastels.

I really just wanted to stab the thing in it's fucking hand and then get Nico and find Mike. But of course, I couldn't do that. Partly because I had left my dagger in the driveway at the safe house, and also because if I _did_ do that, it would either crush me or drop me to my death fifty feet below.

When we reach our destination, however much longer that'll be, I had to figure out a way to contact someone, preferably by Iris Message because monsters couldn't track us that way, but I'd take what I could get.

"Ky!" I hear Nico shout.

I look over at him in the clutches of the monster's other hand. He looked as miserable as I felt, if not more. It's no wonder why either. He's wounded severely and being slung around and soaked with goo.

"What?" I shout back.

"How much longer do you suppose we'll be in this thing's hands?" he asks.

"I dunno. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of being up here though." I say.

He nods and we both look down at the black car beneath us. It was still riding along the bumpy path, with the mysterious guy and Mike inside. Mike was, without a doubt, still screaming his head off. That child could scream and protest longer than any other kid I knew.

After a while, Nico talks again. "You think Mike's okay?" he asks.

"I hope so. He's a tough little kid, he should be alright." I say, trying to reassure the both of us. Though it didn't work quite well. Or at least, it didn't reassure me, I don't know about Nico.

* * *

About two hours later, we had reached a building. It was odd, because it almost looked like a skyscraper from New York and it was in the middle of the woods, the farthest thing _from_ the city. The trees surrounding us must be pretty old because they're taller than the building itself.

The car rolls to a stop and the guy gets out from the passenger side, there must be someone else driving. He looks up at the monster and yells, "Drop 'em in the department!"

The thing starts walking around the giant building and towards the back of it. I try kicking and getting free, but fail. The more I struggled, it seemed, the more the goo on the monster's hands attached itself to my body, getting me more stuck than I already was.

The building stretched back for a bit. It was like one giant square instead of a really tall rectangle, and the farther back you went, the shorter the building got. Eventually, the monster stops at a part of a building that was a few feet shorter than it.

I look and see a really big hole in the roof of it. The monster raises its hands and then drops Nico and I into the hole. I scream all the way down and then thud against something soft and mushy, like a pillow.

I open my eyes and see that we had landed on one of those air sacks that are used for stunts in movies. I make my way over to Nico and we slide off of it.

I look up and see the hole in the ceiling closing up, the early morning sky and the trees disappearing from sight.

We seemed to be in a sort of torture chamber. From what light there was, I could see that there were dark stains on the stone walls and some on the floor as well. Over on the other side of the room there were chains bolted to the walls and floor, and also some hanging from the ceiling. That's where most of the dark stains were. It was obvious that the only light sources were the dim lights hanging from the ceiling, since there weren't any windows.

"Nico." I whisper.

"Yea, Ky?" he asks, leaning heavily against me.

"Do you think we're alone in here?" I ask.

"I dunno, Ky." he says.

Suddenly, all his weight is on me and I topple to the hard, stone ground, Nico on top of me. He had passed out, probably from all the blood he had lost.

I gently move him off of me and onto his back. I pull up his shirt to inspect the wound. I gasp when I see it. Even in the dim lighting, I could tell that it was pretty bad.

It had probably been bad to begin with, but adding the monster goo and being slung around for about five hours to it didn't help at all. It was tinted a nasty shade of green around the edges of it, and inside the wound, the flesh looked almost black.

"Shit." I say.

I look around me, trying to find water to wash it out with or something to bind it with. I see a water pump over by a vault-like door. I get up and bolt over to it. There was a bucket under it and I start to pump the lever.

After a few minutes of pumping, clear water starts to spew out of the nozzle and into the bucket. When I get it half-full, I swish the water around in the bucket and then pour it out. I then fill it up all the way and carry it over to Nico.

Thankfully, he was still breathing. I could tell it was becoming difficult for him though. I quickly touch my sun pendant and use an arrow tip to rip some more of my shirt off, a part that wasn't covered in goo. I was surprised that the pendant had transformed at all. The guy who had taken us obviously meant business, it was surprising that he hadn't put up spells in the dungeon to prevent the use of magical weapons.

I dip the ragged piece of cloth into the bucket of water and gently wash the blood off around the wound and also some of the goo. I wash the piece of fabric out and then tilt Nico onto his side, keeping him propped up.

I squeeze clean water from the cloth into the gash and he seizes up a little at the chill of the cool water. I soak the cloth again and squeeze more into the cut. I do this five more times before I'm satisfied with the cleanliness of the gash.

It still looked bad, but that was about as good as I was going to get it until I got my hands on some ambrosia or nectar. Until then, he was just going to have to endure it.

* * *

I had fallen asleep on the hard concrete floor after about an hour of waiting for Nico to wake up. He still hadn't, but his breathing had become less labored.

A loud squeaking sound wakes me up though. I look over and see Nico was still asleep. I sit up and look to the vault-like door and see that it had opened. There were two figures silhouetted in the bright light behind them. One small and the other taller, about the same size as me.

I get to my feet and sprint over to the door, to find who I had expected to be there. Mike was standing in the doorway, rope binding his small wrists together. He was half-asleep and just barely able to stand up.

I scoop him towards me and hug him close. I look up at the other person and see a young woman. She looked to be about 18 or 19 years old, though she had dark circles under her eyes and wrinkles on her forehead and under her eyes, making her look older. Her long, wavy hair was dark brown, almost black, and her eyes were a sparkling blue, as clear as a crystal.

"Who are you?" I ask, protectively moving Mike behind me.

"I'm not going to hurt you or your family." she says, holding up her hands.

"Oh, yea? Then care to explain the rope around my son's wrists?" I ask.

"I was forced to do that. My boss told me to do it or he'd kill me." she says, lowering her voice.

"Yea, sure." I say, snorting.

I start to back away, taking Mike with me, when she calls to me. "Wait! I have fresh clothes and shoes for you guys and nectar for your husband." she says, reaching behind her and producing a duffle bag.

I stop short and walk back over to her. She opens the bad and I look inside. There were clothes and shoes from the house, as well as a small water bottle full of nectar. My newest pair of classic Converse were with Nico's solid black ones and Mike's sneakers. They must have ransacked the house right after we had left.

I snatch the bag out of her hands and then turn away from her again. Just because she had gotten things we needed, didn't mean she wasn't still one of the bad guys.

"Just to give you a heads up, someone will be coming back here in about an hour to tie you and your husband up as well." she says.

I don't respond, but keep walking over to Nico and Mike. I hear her sigh and close the door. I quicken my pace, reaching Nico. I get to my knees and pop open the bottle. I pull up Nico's shirt and pour the godly drink into the gash.

Immediately, it starts to close up, the exposed flesh going back to dark pink. Within three minutes, it was as good as new.

I give a sigh of relief and close the bottle back up. Then I look at Mike and see he had curled up beside Nico, fast asleep. I glance at the neatly folded clothes and the shoes, then down at my destroyed pajamas.

I open the duffle bag and grab the tee shirt and pair of jeans the lady had brought me. I quickly change, throwing the disgusting pajamas in a heap on the floor.

I quickly pull on some socks and then my Converse. I decide that it would be best if I woke Nico up so he could change and get some shoes on. That way it wouldn't be a pain when, as the girl had claimed, someone came in and tied us up.

I shake him awake and he squints open his eyes.

"Ky? What happened?" he asks, sitting up and rubbing his head.

I quickly explain while he changes and puts on his shoes. When I finish, he looks down at Mike. He was curled up on the floor, sound asleep.

"What are we going to do?" he asks, sitting down and putting his head in his hands.

"I dunno. We'll get out of this though. We've gotten out of tougher situations, if you recall." I say, trying to undo the rope around Mike's wrists.

"Oh yea? Like what?" he asks.

"Well, there was that time right after Adrienne was born and those three Hydras attacked the old house and melted it to the ground. And then we had to kill those things while watching out for a four year old and a newborn." I say.

"Well, at least then we weren't locked up in a prison." he grumbles.

"Will you stop being so negative?" I ask, glaring at him.

"What else can I do, Kyra? We're stuck here and there's a guy that basically wants to kill us and we've no clue who the fuck he is." he spits.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm down a little before I replied. "Let's just get Mike changed, and we can talk about what to do after that, okay?" I ask.

"Fine." he says.

"And can you please try and undo this thing?" I ask, giving up on the rope. Whoever that girl had been, had done it well. It was nearly impossible to untie the knot. I doubt I could cut it either, it would be too difficult with the arrow tip.

Nico comes over and takes Mike's hands in his, starting to work on the bond. After about fifteen minutes of working on it, he finally gets it loose.

Even in the dim lighting, I could tell that Mike's wrists were chaffed and sore. In a few places it had actually started bleeding. I grab the bottle of nectar again and pour a little on the wounds and they immediately heal up.

Then I start changing him out of his clothes. He was so tired that he didn't wake up.

When I finish, Nico scoops him up and we go over to one of the walls and sit down, leaning against it. Nico had Mike practically cradled in his arms. It made me smile, because it reminded me of when he was a baby and Nico would sit down on the couch and sing rock music to him.

"Have you tried your necklace to see if it'll work?" he asks.

"I have, and it does. But I don't see what use it'll do us if we're locked up in here." I say.

"So, what are we going to do?" he asks.

I think for a couple of minutes, looking around trying to find an escape of some sort. My eyes scan every corner of the giant room and come up with nothing.

"Let's wait for the rest of the day, see if they take us out of this place to eat something. If they do, we can scan the place and see if there's any possible escape. I don't think it would be a good idea to attack anyone that comes in since I'm the only one who has a weapon." I say.

"Sounds like a good plan." he says, nodding.

"Uh-huh." I say, yawning.

"Go on and doze for a while. I'll wake you up if anything happens." he says, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer.

I think if he pulled me any closer, we'd end up crushing Mike in between us.

After a couple of minutes, I doze off, my mind on overdrive trying to think of how we were going to get out of this mess if my plan backfired.

**A/N:**

**Hmm. Who do you think that girl was that brought Mike? You'll find out soon enough...**

**Well, today was disappointing. I was supposed to go up to the studio and finish a couple of things and then my teacher was going to help me price my things for the show on Saturday. Well, she called me and said she wasn't feeling well, so we'd have to do it tomorrow. Soo, my mom is going to drop me off before she goes in to work at 11 and then, when I'm finished with everything, my teacher will either drop me off at my mom's work or take me home. ****But besides that, I guess my day was alright. **

**Well, I started watching the anime series Soul Eater a few days ago and I'm almost done with it. Man, I forgot how draining it is, doing a marathon. Because you stay up til like 2 in the morning and you loose track of time and when you finally look at the clock, thinking that it's only 12 o'clock, you're shocked to see it's actually 2:30 and-yea. That sums up pretty much my whole weekend. **

**M/A:**

**Today's song...The Last Song by The All-American Rejects! **

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James's POV

About an hour later, Addie was still with me. I was on free time and I was sitting on the beach. She was making a sandcastle, a rather nice one, too, and I was just watching the small waves.

"Hey, Jamie, you wanna help me with this?" she asks.

"Nah, you go ahead." I say.

"Okay." she says, going back to tightly packing the sand together.

"Hey, Addie." I say.

"Yea?" she asks, looking up at me.

"You haven't let what Lydia said get to you, right?" I ask.

She doesn't respond, but goes back to building her castle instead. That silence pretty much answered my question.

"Don't let it. She doesn't know what she's talking about." I say.

"How do you know?" she asks, looking up at me again. The look in her eyes scared me. It was a burning fury almost, like barely contained rage.

Dad had gotten that look in his eyes one time. A Manticore had shown up at the house one weekend a couple of years ago when I was alone with Addie and Mike. It had nearly killed Mike. Dad had shown up from work just in time and killed it. When he had turned around to see if we were okay, that look had been in his eyes.

"How do I know what?" I ask, confused.

"How do you know she didn't know what she was talking about?" she asks.

"Because I just do. Lydia always talks trash about other campers. It's like she just thinks that everyone else is below her for some reason." I say.

"Oh, really?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. So, don't let it get to you. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You're an awesome person, Addie. You're nice to practically everyone and you stand up for what you believe in, and that's pretty impressive for an eleven year old." I say.

Her bottom lip trembles and before I know it, she's flung herself into my arms and sobbing her eyes out into my shirt.

"Hey, hey." I say, hugging her.

"They hate me here, James. No one likes me." she sobs.

"Now, that's not true. _I_ like you." I say.

"That's because you have to! You're my brother, you're supposed to like me!" she says.

"Surely there's _someone_ who likes you?" I say.

"No! Everyone's afraid of me and they always just stare at me like I'm some sort of demon from the Underworld that dad fights off." she says, starting to do that hiccup thing people usually do when they cry too much and too hard.

"Don't say that, Adrienne!" I say, holding her back by her shoulders and looking at her.

Her cheeks and nose were red from crying and her dark eyes were big and watery. She was sniffling and hiccuping, obviously trying to stop crying.

"Why shouldn't I? It's true." she says, looking down, dejectedly.

"No, it's not. What about the Demeter cabin? You spent the whole day with them after we got here." I say.

"I could tell they were just tolerating me for your sake." she says, sounding miserable.

"Well let's see, who likes you? Uncle Mo and Aunt Cassie's kids like you. And Percy and Annabeth, Jason and Piper, and Leo and Jessie's kids all like you. And what about Tristan?" I say.

"Yea, because I've known them since we were all babies. But they have friends here, and they avoid me for the most part because they don't want to talk to me in front of their friends. I'm talking about the people here that don't know me." she says.

"Well then, make people know you. It's not that hard. Just start talking to the kids your age while you're training. I know that once they get to know you, they'll love you. I'd stay away from the Ares cabin though, they're not very easy to get along with." I say.

"James, all that's easy for you. You're outgoing, a people person. You know how hard it is for me to do that." she says.

"C'mon, Addie. I'll start you out and introduce you to someone. If you want, I'll stay with you until you feel comfortable." I say, getting up and giving her a hand.

"Really?" she asks.

"Sure thing." I say, walking away from the beach, Addie on my heels.

**A/N:**

**Short little nothing chapter. As I'm writing more scenes with Adrienne in them, I've found that a lot of myself has come out in her. Insecure about people liking her, shy, glares at stupid or mean people a lot...**

**Oh my god, guys! You're going to ****_love _****Tuesday's chapter! There's a really big twist at the end that'll have you going, "WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE JUST WRITE?! HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!" *evil laughter***

**Well, today was the Christmas sale at the studio and I did really well. I sold more than I thought I would, and that made me really happy ^.^**

**I really enjoyed talking to all the people that came in, that was probably my favorite part. And I felt really bad at one point. The lady that I worked for doing the snow cone stand this fall came in and she bought one of my pieces. Well, I had noticed earlier that she was limping slightly. Apparently there's something wrong with her knee or leg and she's in a lot of pain and the doctor can't see her until the 10th. So while I was packaging up someone else's things, she was talking to my teacher and she started crying and I just wanted to go up to her and hug her and tell her that she'd feel better soon.**

**So that's pretty much what was happening with me all day. Thank god, I get to sleep in tomorrow!**

**Oh, and I started watching American Horror Story a few days ago. Damn, I just really love Evan Peters. He's such a brilliant young actor, in my opinion at least, and I absolutely loved him as Tate. Right now I'm on the second season and I really love him as Kit. **

**M/A:**

**Today's ballad is ****Pleads and Postcards**** by ****The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"Ky, wake up." Nico says, lightly shaking my shoulder.

My eyes pop open and I look around, expecting to see a guard of some sort about to tie us up. There wasn't anyone though.

"What?" I ask.

"I just thought of something." he says.

"What did you think of?" I ask, yawning.

"It might not work, but I think I've got enough strength now to try and shadow travel us out of here." he says.

"Really? You think you're okay to do that?" I ask.

"Yea. Here, grab my arm." he says, holding out his arm.

I loop mine through his and we hold on tightly to Mike, who was still sleeping.

I start to feel the coldness take over me, then it suddenly goes away. I open my eyes again and see we're still in the dungeon place.

"Damn. They must have spells on this place, preventing shadow traveling. Wouldn't be the first time I've been trapped and unable to do it." he says, smacking his head against the wall.

"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see if we can go through with my plan." I say.

"I really wish I had my guitar. I'm dying to play something." he says.

Nico had taken up guitar playing shortly after we had gotten married. Along with singing to the kids, he'd also play songs on the guitar for them. It had taken him a while to get it down, it hadn't come very naturally to him as it would of to me, but he had been determined to learn. When he finally learned though, it became like an addiction almost. He couldn't go a week without picking it up and playing.

"I would love to hear you play. You haven't in a while." I say, leaning my head onto his shoulder.

"Well that's just what I'll do when we get home. I'll sing and play to you for as long as you want." he says, kissing the top of my head.

"Oh really?" I ask, looking at him and smirking.

"You bet. As long as you want and whatever you want to hear." he says.

"As long as I want and whatever I want to hear? That sounds like a good deal." I say.

"It is." he says, smiling.

The vault door creaks open again, breaking up our conversation. A figure larger than the girl who had brought Mike and our clothes was standing there. It was obviously a man by the build of the body.

He walks towards us and Nico and I stand up, sheltering Mike behind us. The man reaches us, practically towering over Nico.

In the dim light of the dungeon, I couldn't tell much about him. I could tell that he was African American though. His skin was a beautiful shade of mahogany, and his arms were muscular, like he'd been working in the forges every day for several years. He looked to be about the same age as the girl, 18 or 19.

Nico makes a choking sound. I look over at him and see his dark eyes were the size of dinner plates and all the blood had drained from his face.

"Wh-what are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead!" Nico whispers, the tone of his voice plainly stating that he was freaked out.

"Nico, what are you talking about?" I ask, looking at the man standing before us. He didn't look familiar to me, nor in the slightest bit dead.

"I can't answer questions, Nico." the man says. His voice was as smooth as syrup, but when he said Nico's name, it cracked slightly.

"What are you going to do to us?" I ask.

"I've been ordered to tie you up." he says. The way he said "ordered" made it sound like he really didn't want to tie us up.

I look at him and then hold out my hands. He gives me a relieved look and binds my wrists together with rough, scratchy rope.

"Can you tell me something?" I ask as he ties up Nico.

"Depends." he says.

"Will we ever be brought out of here for like meals and stuff like that?" I ask.

"Getting hungry, are you?" he asks, looking at me. His eyes glittered. Now that he was closer, I could see they were a warm, honey-gold color.

"Well, we _have_ been here for a while." I say.

"I'll ask." he says.

He kneels down and gently ties the rope around Mike's wrists, trying not to tie it too tightly, but tight enough to where he wouldn't get into trouble if they came undone.

"If someone doesn't come to get you in an hour, assume that you won't be taken out of this place for anything." he says.

"Alright." I say.

With that, he turns and leaves us alone again. Nico sits heavily on the stone floor, looking dazed.

"Nico, what did you mean when you said he was supposed to be dead?" I ask.

He looks at me, complete disbelief on his face. "That was Charlie Beckendorf. He died 21 years ago right before the war with the Titans in New York." he says, his voice hollow.

**A/N:**

**Well, was I right? Are y'all going, "WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE JUST WRITE?!"? **

***evil laughter* It gets so much better and twisted, trust me. When I planned out the plot of this trilogy, I thought, "Man, how did I ever come up with such a twisted idea?" **

**I think I'm gonna upload the next chapter too, since I waited so long to update today...**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

The whole "making people know Adrienne" thing hadn't worked out according to plan, to say the least. Most everyone that I had walked up to with her had just looked at her like, as she had said, a demon dad hunts down in the Underworld. I really hated the campers that did that.

"James, there's no one left. We've talked to everyone. It's hopeless." she moans, sitting heavily on the Hades cabin steps and resting her head in her hands.

"Don't give up hope, Addie. There's bound to be someone—" she cuts me off.

She stands up and looks at me, her eyes sad and furious at the same time. "No! Don't you get it? I'm a _freak_ here! No one likes me, and that will never change!" she yells, drawing the attention of some campers passing by.

"Adrienne, calm down." I say, pulling her back down.

"What am I supposed to do, James? Just be a total outcast for the rest of the summer and the summers to come?" she asks.

"No." I say.

"Well then what?" she asks, crossing her arms.

I sigh and lean back onto the porch, looking up at the overhang. I really didn't know, but I didn't want to tell her that. Otherwise, she'd give up entirely.

"Hey!" someone calls.

I sit up and look around. There was a girl coming over to us, she looked to be around Addie's age, maybe a year or so older. Her hair was bleached blonde and straight, falling to her shoulders, her skin was lightly tanned and she was relatively slender, but not skinny, and her eyes were a mixture of nearly every color imaginable. They could of hypnotized you if you looked at them for too long. She was the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen.

"Uh, hi." I say, my voice horse. I found myself at a loss for words.

"I wasn't talking to you." she says, her eyes turning as cold as ice, "I was talking to her."

She points to Adrienne and her dark eyes widen slightly. "Me?" Addie asks.

The girl grins and nods. "I'm Jade, though I prefer Jay. I just got here and my siblings were talking about a child of Hades. I decided to come by and say hello." she says.

"Adrienne. I'm a granddaughter of Hades, actually." she says.

Jade's eyebrows rise, obviously shocked. "Granddaughter?" she asks.

"Yea, our dad is Nico di Angelo and our mom is Kyra di Angelo." I say, finding my voice again.

"Really? I didn't know they were still alive even, much less had kids. I've heard stories of your mom and dad. They're pretty powerful demigods." she says.

"Uh, Jade? I've never actually seen you around Camp. What cabin are you in?" I ask.

She sniffs and looks at me with distaste. "Iris. Last year was my first summer, but shortly after I got here, there was a family emergency and I had to go back home. Though why I even bother telling you, I don't know." she says.

"Oh." I say. I really didn't understand why her attitude was so sour towards me.

"So, Adrienne, you want to go down to the beach?" Jade asks.

"Um, sure." she says, though she didn't sound sure at all.

She gives me a nervous glance as she gets to her feet and follows Jade towards the beach.

I sit on the steps for a few more minutes before getting up as well and going to the Apollo cabin to get my gear on for training. That Jade girl was something else, that was for sure.

**A/N:**

**Ah, new character! I think you guys will like Jade, but then I could be wrong. We'll just have to see! Saturday's chapter is longer, by the way.**

**Sorry about the wait today guys. I'd be about to get on my computer and update, then I'd have to do something else and then get distracted after. This went on for most of the day.**

**Soo, I got my new iPod yesterday! I finally had enough to get it and I'm so happy with it. It's really tiny and cute, it's the newest nano, if you guys were wondering :3**

**What ticks me off though is that Apple changed the fucking charging thing, so I can't use my dock unless I use the AUX chord, which I'm not totally fond of since I can't use the remote to change the song. Oh well, though. I'll live. **

**I had a really weird/awesome dream on Sunday night. I was at home and apparently my sister and her family (the ones who visited and created hell week this summer) were visiting. Well, I was in my room, avoiding them, and I was listening to music and my phone started ringing. I picked it up and looked at the number, but it was unknown. So I answered and it was fucking ****_Pete Wentz. _****If you don't know who that is, he's the bassist in the band ****Fall Out Boy****. **

**So anyway, he talked to me for a few minutes and was just wondering what I was doing and I think I told him that my sister was there and it was living nightmare, so then he told me that he had some things to do, but he'd call me back later and I could tell him all about it. Then, when the conversation was over, I went outside and my mom and sister were sitting on the carport steps and I walked past them and into the yard and threw my phone on the ground, followed by myself, and then I just started rolling around in the grass screaming and making these inhuman fangirl noises and then I woke up. Yes, I know. It was a strange but fucking awesome dream. **

**M/A:**

**_"'Leave all your love and your longing behind_**

**_You can't carry it with you if you want to survive'"_**

**Dog Days Are Over**** - ****Florence + The Machine****.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"What do you mean he _died_? He was just standing right there!" I say.

"Ky, I'm telling you, that was Beckendorf. There's no mistaking him." Nico says.

"Well then how in Hades did he get back up here? Shouldn't he be down in Elysium?" I ask.

"Yea, he should be." he says.

"So if that actually was Beckendorf, I want to know why he's working for the scumbag that brought us here." I say.

"Maybe he didn't have a choice. You were telling me about a girl who brought Mike and the clothes and stuff earlier. What did she look like?" he asks.

"She had long dark hair, blue eyes, she was a bit short. She looked to be about 18 or 19." I say, shrugging.

He closes his eyes and gives a small sigh. "Oh boy." he says.

"What?" I ask.

"I bet that was Silena." he says.

"Another person who's supposed to be dead?" I guess.

He nods. "Silena and Beckendorf were dating, and they both died 21 years ago." he says.

"But—" the vault door creaks open, interrupting me.

"You three. C'mon." the person calls.

Nico picks up Mike, with difficulty since his wrists were bound together, and we walk over to the door.

There was another man standing there, looked to be in his mid-thirties. Nico didn't seem shocked at all by this guy as he had been when he had seen Beckendorf, so I assume this guy was actually supposed to be alive.

"Where are you taking us?" I ask.

"Shut your pretty mouth, or I might have to do something to ya." the man says, smirking at me.

I see Nico's eyes harden and his grip on Mike tightens a little. I give him a warning look and then we follow the man out.

He leads us through a blindingly white hallway that never seemed to end. When we finally reach the end, the guy stops in front of a pair of large, wooden doors. He pushes on them and they swing open soundlessly.

He grunts and pushes Nico and I inside, then slams the doors shut. I hear a clicking sound and sigh, realizing that he had locked us in.

I look around the room and see it was a sort of dining pavilion. There were large marble tables set with dishes all around us. The floor looked like it was made of an iridescent glass and the ceiling was like a giant sunroof. I could see clear blue sky and trees; I didn't think I'd ever seen a more beautiful sight.

"Why do you think they brought us here?" I ask.

"Well, maybe they brought us here to feed us." Nico says, shaking Mike awake.

"I dunno. Did you see anything we could use as an exit on our way down that hallway?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "No. Not a window or anything. You?" he asks.

"Nope." I sigh, shoving some of the plates and eating utensils away and sitting down on one of the tables. As I sit down, I feel something in my back pocket.

"We need to think of something, because I'm sure someone's gonna come in here soon to check up on us." he says, pacing.

I get back up and try to reach into my pocket, but fail. "Nico." I say.

"I mean, there has to be something we can do. An exit around this place or—"

"Nico!" I shout.

"What?!" he asks, alarmed.

"Come here and try to get this out of my pocket." I say.

"_What_?" he asks.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "My aMuse. Somehow, I forgot that it travels everywhere with me." I say.

"Oh." he says, getting to his feet and coming over to me.

He reaches into my back pocket and takes out the golden device, and then hands it to me.

"Thanks." I say, unlocking it.

In a matter of seconds, it was transformed into the golden throwing star. I cut through the ropes around Nico's wrists and then Mike's. Then he cuts through mine.

He gives me back the aMuse, it having transformed back into the magical iPod. I slip it back into my pocket and then sit on the table once again. Then I see something glint out of the corner of my eye. I look and see a small rainbow.

"Nico." I breathe, my eyes widening.

"What now?" he sighs.

"Look." I whisper, pointing to the rainbow.

His eyes land on it and he looks back to me, a sly grin on his lips.

"We just need a drachma." he says.

We pat our pockets and come up with nothing.

"Well, there goes that possibility." he says, glumly, sitting down next to me on the table.

Mike was running around the pavilion, throwing his hands up and giggling. A ghost of a smile comes to my lips as I watch him play with the forks and spoons.

"What?" Nico asks, seeing my smile.

I shrug, still smiling. "I just find it amazing that even after this morning, being captured and all, he still finds something to laugh about and have fun with." I say.

"Mama!" he calls, sounding excited.

"What, Mike?" I ask, getting off the table and making my way over to him.

"Look what I found!" he says, holding his fist in the air.

I reach him and take his hand in mine. He uncurls his fingers to reveal a gleaming drachma.

"Can I take this, Mike?" I ask.

"No!" he says, curling his fingers over it again.

"Honey, daddy and I need this. I promise, I'll get you another one when we get home." I say.

"Really?" he asks, his forest green and dark chocolate brown eyes suspicious.

I nod. "But you gotta give this one to me." I say.

He looks down at the coin in the palm of his hand and then back up at me. He sets his jaw and then drops the coin into my hand.

"You promise though." he says, eyeing me.

"I promise." I say, nodding.

He seemed content with that and then goes back to playing with the eating-ware.

I rush back over to Nico, grinning like a mad-mad, and show him the coin.

"How do you think he got that?" Nico asks.

"I don't know and I don't care. We can figure that out later. The only thing that matters is that we have it and we can call someone." I say, walking over to the rainbow.

"Who should we call?" I ask.

Nico thinks for a second, looking up at the blue sky. "Mo?" he asks.

"I would, but now that I think about it, it might be better to contact someone at Camp. Whoever these people are that have us here might be monitoring the Iris messages somehow. If they are, they'd be able to see who we contacted in the mortal world. They wouldn't be able to if we contacted someone inside Camp because of the boarders. Better safe than sorry." I say, shrugging.

"James?" he asks.

I look at the coin. Our only hope of making it out of this place depended on who we called, and we only had one shot at it.

"James." I say.

I toss the coin into the rainbow and it disappears. "O Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Show me James di Angelo at Camp Half-Blood." I say.

The rainbow shimmers and an image of James firing an arrow pops up. It was just him at the archery range, so I assume that he's using some free time or he got there before the rest of his cabin.

"James!" I call.

He spins around, his leaf green eyes wide and startled.

"Mom? Where in the world are you?" he asks, peering closer.

"James, just listen to me. I don't have much time to explain." I say.

I quickly tell him what all had happened. As I talked, the look of dread on his face deepened.

"And now we need you to tell Chiron or contact Uncle Mo or someone. Please, James." I say.

"I—mom, how did this even _happen_? What does this guy want with you? Is Mike okay?" he asks.

"Yes, he's perfectly fine. I have no idea what this guy wants with us. That's why I need you to tell someone so they can try to find us while we try and see if we can break out of this place." I say.

"I—" he says, at a loss for words.

I felt sorry for him. Here I am, his mother, calling to him for help because Nico and I had been captured by some lunatic, and he had no idea what to do. He'd never really been put in a situation like this before.

Nico gently moves me out of the way and looks at the rainbow. I knew our time would be up soon unless we put in another drachma, which we didn't have.

"James, you listen to me. All you have to do is contact Mo or one of the others, tell them what's happened, and then they can come and find us. That's all." Nico says, his tone hard.

James meets Nico's eyes. His eyes harden and he sets his jaw and nods. "I'll do it." he says.

"Good boy. I'll see you soon, Jamie." Nico says, his voice softening.

"Bye dad." he says.

I skim my fingers though the rainbow and the image shimmers and disappears.

**A/N:**

**Ahh, yes. Finally making some progress. Where do you think Michael got the drachma? Do you think he had it to begin with, or do you think someone gave it to him?**

**Well, today has been relatively calm. I went to class this morning and it was only me and my friend there, which was quite nice. Then I came home and ate lunch while watching the fourth Harry Potter movie. Every once and a while I just have this urge to watch all of the movies and I usually spend a whole week doing so. **

**In a few minutes I'm going to see Catching Fire, at last! I've heard so many people say how awesome it is, so I'm pretty excited ^.^**

**M/A:**

_**"''Cause you are the one that started  
To make me feel this way  
And every night I'm thinking  
About the words you'd say**_

Pictures going through my mind  
When we're together  
All these long and sleepless nights  
Will I ever get better'"

**The One I Want**** by ****Green Day****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"Holy shit." I whisper, closing my eyes and running my fingers through my hair.

How in the world was I supposed to do this? And what lunatic would build a _skyscraper_ in the middle of the woods? I guess someone who didn't want to be found, but needed a really big place to stay.

I sling my bow behind me and head out of the archery range. I needed to find a drachma.

* * *

Finding a drachma was easier said than done. I had to practically dump everything out of my trunk, dig around in my backpack, and tear up the whole cabin and even _then_ I still couldn't find one.

Eventually, I give up. I quickly put everything back in its place and leave the cabin, heading down to the Hades cabin, where I hoped Adrienne would be.

I go up the obsidian steps and bang on the door.

"Come in." someone calls.

I open the door to find Adrienne and Jade sitting on the floor, painting their nails.

"Is this what you do with your free time?" I ask.

"Well, yea. We're girls." Jade says, rolling her eyes.

"I uh—never mind. Addie, I need a drachma." I say, remembering why I was here in the first place.

"Why?" she asks.

"I'll tell you later." I say.

"Why can't you just tell me now?" she asks.

I sigh and shake my head. Of course she chose _now_ to be difficult. "I'll tell you later. It's really important. I need to make a call and I can't find a drachma, do you have one or not?" I ask, getting irritated.

"Why can't you just tell me why you need one?" she asks.

"Gods, Adrienne! Do you have any or not?!" I yell.

"Geez, okay. Yea, I've got one. Go check in my wallet, it's in my backpack." she says, nodding her head over to her bed where her pack was.

I hurry over and rip open the bag. I rifle through it, pulling out her wallet, and unzip the coin pocket. There were at least ten drachmas in there.

"How in Hades did you get all these?" I ask, turning to look at her.

"Allowance from mom and dad. You'd have that much too if you didn't spend all of yours." she says, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, fine. I don't have time for this." I say, grabbing one and them walking out of the cabin.

I quickly make my way to the Iris cabin. They had little rainbows all over the place. It was almost as if the cabin were built out of them.

Just as I'm about to throw in the drachma, someone lays a hand on my shoulder. I turn around to find Jade.

"What do you want, Jade? I'm kinda busy here." I say.

"You know, there really wasn't a reason to snap at Adrienne back there." she says.

"I'm sorry. I just really need to make a call, then you can scream at me all you want." I say, turning away from her.

"Okay, you know what? You're being a total prick." she says.

"Excuse me?" I ask, looking at her again.

"You heard me." she says, placing her hands on her hips.

I sigh. "Okay, listen. I really don't have time for this. I've got an emergency on my hands and I really need to call my uncle for help." I say.

"Maybe I can help." she says.

"I really doubt that. Can I please just make this call?" I ask.

She glares at me, then waves her hand, motioning for me to go ahead.

"Thank the gods." I mumble, throwing the drachma in.

Within a minute, Uncle Mo appears in the rainbow. He was sitting on the patio at his house, playing on his phone.

"Uncle Mo." I say.

He looks up and smiles. "Hey, James." he says.

"Listen, mom and dad just called me." I say.

He must of sensed the panic in my voice, because he leans closer to the rainbow, eyebrows raised.

"I'm listening." he says.

I quickly tell him all mom had told me when we had talked, about being taken from the safe house and to some skyscraper in the woods.

"A skyscraper in the woods? What in Hades is that about?" he asks when I finish.

"I don't know. But you or someone else needs to try and find them, please." I say, hearing the desperation in my own voice.

"Of course. I'll get right on it. Don't worry, James, we'll find them and get them back." he says.

"Thanks, Uncle Mo." I say.

"No problem, kiddo. I've been keeping your mom safe since we were a teenager, it's kinda my job." he says, smirking, "I'll message you later if I find anything."

"Alright, talk to you then." I say.

The image dissipates and it's just Jade and me again. I turn around, ready for the lecture I was about to get from her. Instead, I see her looking almost shocked.

"I'm sorry James, I had no idea." she says.

"It's alright. You were right when you said there hadn't been a reason to snap at Adrienne." I say.

"You gonna tell her about this?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

I shake my head. "No, not yet. I'll wait a couple of days, and if he still hasn't found anything, I'll tell her. Any chance of her getting comfortable here would be wrecked if I did. If I told her, she'd just want to go and find them herself. Please don't say anything to her." I say.

She gives me a hard look, then nods. "Okay, I won't tell her." she says.

"Thank you." I sigh.

"You might want to go back and apologize though. She was nearly in tears after you left. Kinda freaked her out." she says.

"Ah man." I say, running my fingers through my hair.

I walk away from the cabin, Jade beside me, and we go back to the Hades cabin. I was going to have to come up with a believable explanation.

* * *

"You have a _girlfriend_?!" Adrienne says, shocked.

"I—yea." I sigh.

Jade was sitting on the bed, trying to contain her laughter. My explanation had been that I had a girlfriend from last summer, but her parents had moved to Russia, so I was going to call her, but couldn't find a drachma. I had been surprised that she had believed me.

"Oh my gods! James has a girlfriend! What does she look like?" she asks.

"Uh, she has long blonde hair and her eyes are a mixture of gray, sky blue, and green." I say.

"Really?" she asks, smirking at me and glancing at Jade.

I give her a look and shake my head. She was thinking that I was talking about Jade. Truth be told, when I made up this "girlfriend," I thought about Jade. I didn't like her like that though, I just thought she was pretty.

"Sure, James. Alright." Addie says.

A horn blows outside and I realize that it's been at least an hour since free time started. Time sure did fly.

**A/N:**

**Aha, Uncle Mo to the rescue! I have to admit, when I wrote the last part of this where James has made up that he was trying to contact this "girlfriend" of his, I was snickering a bit. And I really dunno why. I guess just because imaging the scene in my head and the smug look on Adrienne's face made me giggle. **

**Sorry for the bit of a delayed update today, btw. I was going to update a few hours ago, I was finished editing the chapter and all, but my mom came home and wanted me to come with her to run some errands, so I didn't have enough time to write the A/N. **

**And today I forced my parents to write down Christmas lists. We were at the hardware store and I was getting my brother his present and then they started sorta bickering because my dad needs a new air compressor. Well, they had a couple of really nice ones and my mom was trying to talk my dad into letting her get it and then she'd just wrap it and put it under the tree for one of his presents. He kept saying no, because it was too expensive and they argued back and forth for a few more minutes before I stepped between them and told them to shut up. I said, "When we get home, I'm giving each of you a pen and a piece of paper and you're going to write down ten things you would like for Christmas. I get so sick and tired of having the two of you come to me and ask what the other wants, because really, I don't know either!" **

**And I was serious too. When we got home a few minutes ago, I got the paper and two pens and forced them to do it. So now, not only will they both have something to look at and see who wants what, but my brother and his wife will also know what they want. **

**Do you ever have those days where you're just in a really good mood and then all of a sudden you just get really pissed off at everyone and if anything happens at all, good or bad or just neutral, you get angry about it? That's pretty much what happened today. I really dunno what set it off, but I just got ticked off over the most stupid things that don't matter one way or another. **

**M/A:**

_**"'Hey it's just me, set yourself free, why don't you let me know what's going on  
Hey it's just me, set yourself free'"**_

**~ Jet Pack by Eve 6.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"Do you think he was able to contact Mo?" Nico asks.

"I'm sure he was. It might take a while, Nico. Mo has no idea where we are, hell, _I_ don't even know where we are." I say.

"I know, I know. It's driving me crazy not being able to do anything though." he says.

"Me too. I wish we could find a way to make it out of here somehow." I say.

"Where do you think Mike got that drachma?" he asks.

"I dunno. He was just holding it. If it was Silena who brought him, she might of put it in his pocket." I say, shrugging.

The door to the dining pavilion creaks open. Two people were standing there. One tall and muscular, the other shorter and more petite looking.

Nico and I hop off the table, trying to find something to defend ourselves with if needed.

The two people come in, closing the door behind them, and start making their way towards us.

As they got closer, I saw that the tall one was the guy who Nico said was Beckendorf. The other was the girl who had brought Mike and the clothes earlier.

"Hey, Nico." the girl says.

I look over at him and see he had gone deathly pale. The girl was obviously Silena by that reaction.

"I know, you're probably wondering why we're here. We're supposed to be dead, after all." she says.

"I—I don't understand." Nico says.

"We're not spirits, we're actually here. Living, human beings." Beckendorf says.

"I know that, I'd be able to tell if you were spirits. But how did you get out?" Nico asks.

Silena and Beckendorf look at each other. A silent conversation went on between the two, and then they look back at us.

"We don't know. We were down in Elysium one day and then the next we were back in the mortal world. There was this guy who was standing over us when we got back, looked maybe twenty years old. He's actually our boss, but we haven't seen him since that night. He always sends us messengers to give us orders. " Silena says.

"Where exactly were you when you woke up?" Nico asks.

"In a graveyard. It was nearly pitch black outside." Beckendorf says.

"Oh, good gods." Nico says, closing his eyes and running his fingers through his hair. If possible, he got even paler. He almost looked like he was about to keel over dead.

"What is it?" I ask.

"They were brought back, on purpose." he says, "Did there happen to be a couple of bodies laying around that graveyard?"

"I don't remember any. Why?" Silena asks.

"I think your boss did a soul for a soul deal." he says.

"What is that?" Beckendorf asks.

"If you've lost a loved one, or anyone really, you can trade someone's soul for the person you want back. It's a very complicated ritual, but it's worked before." he says.

The way he talked, he made it sound like he'd done one of these deals before, or at least attempted it.

"What did he look like?" I ask.

"Pale freckled skin, dark auburn hair. I can't really remember much else. Like Silena said, it was dark out, and we haven't seen him since." Beckendorf says.

"Oh gods." I say.

"What?" Silena asks.

"Your boss is the man who brought us here. He tried taking Mike, but we followed and this giant goo monster of his grabbed us and carried us all the way here from our safe house in Pennsylvania." I say.

"I hate that thing. It's called téras vlénnes, one of the other guards here told me he created it himself. What does he want with you guys anyway?" she asks.

"We don't know." Nico says.

"Have you ever met him before?" she asks.

"No, we haven't." I say.

"Well, we didn't come down here to chat with you two. We were ordered to bring you this." Beckendorf says, bringing a small rolling cart from behind him.

There was a covered platter and a bunch of plastic water bottles on it. Beckendorf removes the cover over the platter to reveal stacks of ham, turkey, and roast beef sandwiches.

"Food." Nico breathes.

"We need to get back to work. I'll come back later to take the cart and then Charlie will come and take you back to the department." Silena says.

"Is that what that torture chamber is called? The 'department?'" I ask, picking up a turkey and cheese sandwich.

"Yea." she says.

"That's a horrible name for it." I say.

"Silena, Charles, report back to the office, immediately!" someone calls over an intercom.

"We need to go." Beckendorf says.

"Thank you." I say.

Silena gives me a smile and then she and Beckendorf leave, closing and locking the doors behind them.

Nico had already downed two water bottles and was on his third sandwich.

"Hungry I see?" I ask, smirking at him.

"Hey, it's been a while since I've eaten anything." he says.

"I know, I know. Me too." I say, "Mike, come over and eat something."

"Mama, can we stay in here?" he asks when he reaches us.

"I'm afraid not, honey. Someone is going to come and take us back to the dark room in a while." I say.

"But I don't want to go back. There's monsters in there." he says, his bottom lip trembling.

"Daddy and I aren't going to let any monsters take you. Come on, now. Eat." I say, handing him a sandwich.

He looks at it then to me. He gingerly takes it and then goes back over to all of the eating-ware he had been playing with earlier.

"Do you think there actually are monsters in that place?" Nico asks, watching Mike.

"I dunno. Wouldn't surprise me if there were some in those cells." I say.

"Let's just hope that if there are any, they won't be released." he says.

"Let's hope." I say.

**A/N:**

**Surprise update, 'cause why not? I'm actually at work with my mom right now (what a surprise, right?) and haven't got anything better to do. **

**I bet you guys are going crazy trying to figure out who this mystery man is...You'll find out soon enough...**

**And why do you think he brought back Silena and Beckendorf? Just to spook Nico maybe, since he's the only one there who actually sort of knew them before they died? **

**So last night my mom told me that she was finally able to talk my dad into getting another dog! After she gets off work, we're going to the animal shelter to see if they have any young females. We don't want a puppy because we don't want to go through having everything we own being chewed to pieces again, so I thought going to the shelter and finding one would be the better option. **

**Also, last night was my last pottery class for this year, since we're going on Christmas break until January 8th. I'm a bit sad, but my teacher said I could come up to the studio and make things anyway ^.^**

**While we were in class last night, I wanted to punch the older brother several times. I dunno if it was by accident or what, but he touched my butt, not once, but twice. And my friend said he had also been staring at me around the, ahem, chest area. And I somehow just noticed this last night, but he always stands inches away from me. I usually look at him and say, "Why are you standing so close to me?" usually accompanied by a death glare, (I've been told I'm quite good at giving those) and he backs off. **

**He's just fucking weird and kinda creepy, and I swear, the next time he does something like this, whether by accident or not, I will tell him to stop touching me or I will destroy him. It's not cute, and it's not appreciated. **

**M/A:**

_**"'The music makes me sway  
The angels singing say we are alone with you  
I am alone and they are too with you'"**_

**All Around Me (Acoustic)**** by ****Flyleaf****.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"Alright guys, I already know where I'm placing the flag. I need Gail and Sam over by the creek, up in the trees to make sure no one passes into our territory. James, I want you, Lydia and Adrienne in Ares' territory, causing a distraction. The other cabins on our team are going to be trying to hold back the enemy." Tristan says, strapping on his gleaming armor.

We had made alliances with Hebe, Nemesis, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, and Dionysus, as well as Hades, for this game of capture the flag. We had a pretty sizable team, but then, Ares had a really good team too.

"Uhm, Tris, I have a problem with that setup." Lydia says.

I roll my eyes as I buckle the breast and the back plate together of my golden armor. Of course Lydia was going to bring this up again, even though Tristan had settled it already.

Tristan sighs and I could tell he was counting to five before he spoke. "Lydia, I don't care if you have a problem with the setup. You're going to cause a distraction with James and Adrienne, whether you like it or not. That argument was settled this afternoon, don't bring it up again." he says.

He turns away from Lydia and looks at Gail, Sam, and me, nodding. "Ready? We're going to whip Ares' kids' asses tonight." he says, grinning.

Sam jumps up from his bed and starts doing some weird dance. Leave it to Sam to lighten the mood a bit with his weirdness.

"Sam, man, what in Hades are you doing?" Tristan asks.

"Oh, my mom told me about this sacred dance people used to do for Nike to get her blessing before a race or something." he says, still wiggling around.

Tristan covers his eyes with his hand, shaking his head.

"Dude, I don't think you're doing it right." I say, chuckling.

"James, why don't you go check on Adrienne, make sure she's ready. I'll get them corralled out of here somehow." Tristan says.

"Okay. I'll just meet you guys by the creek." I say, slipping my sword into its sheath and grabbing my bow and quiver.

I walk out of the cabin and start heading over to the Hades cabin. I was hoping playing capture the flag would take my mind off of the situation at hand, at least for a little bit.

As I walk up the obsidian steps, I hear a crash from inside the cabin.

I quickly open the door to find Adrienne in a comical position, tangled in her new black armor. Dad had gotten it for her last week, up until then, she hadn't been wearing any armor at all. She really hadn't had a reason to wear any before, since when she was doing little bits of training at home, it was by herself in the backyard or with mom, and she usually let Addie win.

"Here, let me help." I say, chuckling.

"I can do it." she protests.

"Sure you can. I can see how well doing it yourself turned out." I say, unbuckling all the straps.

"Did dad not show you how you put this stuff on?" I ask.

"Didn't have time." she says.

"Oh." I say.

Within five minutes, I had all her gear straightened out. She looks at herself in the mirror and smirks.

"You gotta show me how to do that so fast." she says.

"You'll learn. Just takes some practice." I say, shrugging.

"So what exactly are we doing?" she asks, grabbing her throwing stars and dagger.

"Capture the flag. I'll explain on the way, but we need to meet the others down at the creek. C'mon." I say, waving her on.

* * *

My sword clashed with Sabrina Richards', the sharp clang of metal against metal blending in with the other sounds of battle going on around us.

The game had been going on for at least half an hour by this point. By the turnout Addie, Lydia and I had had, I'd say we had done our distraction quite well.

The two Richards siblings from Ares, Sabrina and Mark, had shown up. I hated those two so much. I really didn't know why, but there was just something about them that rubbed me the wrong way.

Some kids from Demeter, Iris, and Nike had shown up too, but most of them had gone on to try and find the flag. What they'd find though was a bunch of our team mates waiting at the creek.

"You can't hold out much longer, di Angelo." Sabrina snarls.

"Wanna bet?" I grunt, pushing her away from me.

She stumbles backwards, but manages to stay on her feet. We charge each other and clash swords again, trying to disarm each other.

This goes on for another ten minutes before I finally mange to knock her sword out of her hand.

It flies away and lands at the base of a tree five feet away. She starts to make her way towards it, but I block her path.

"Don't even think about it." I say.

She scowls at me, but stands down. I look around and see Lydia was still fighting a guy from Demeter. I didn't see Adrienne and Mark anywhere though.

I look around some more and spot Addie's Stygian iron throwing star on the ground.

I move away from Sabrina, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be keeping her from her sword, and make my way to the small weapon.

As soon as I pick it up, I hear an ear shattering scream. I quickly look up and glance around. Everyone had frozen, trying to locate where it had come from.

"Addie." I whisper. I sheathe my sword and pull out my bow.

I quickly make my way to where it had come from, Lydia, Sabrina, and the guy from Demeter right behind me. I was praying to the gods it hadn't been Adrienne.

**A/N:**

**Hmmm. Where do you think Adrienne and Mark Richards got to? And who do you think screamed? Also, I'm sure you guys remember the scum known as Daemon Richards from ****Revival****. Yea, well, in case you didn't realize from their last name, Sabrina and Mark are his kids. **

**Today has been an extremely long day. I actually didn't wake up until 11:00, I was ****_really _****tired last night. Then at about 12:00, my mom and I took my dad lunch and then we went Christmas shopping. I think we got pretty much all the gifts, I know I did. **

**And I also got this cool thing at Target. It's a Bluetooth signal thing and you plug it into your dock and it submits a Bluetooth signal and you can connect your iPod to iPad, or any of the other electronics that can use Bluetooth, and you can listen to your music and stuff and control it up to thirty feet away. So yea, really rad and handy thing to have.**

**M/A:**

_**"'Way out nowhere  
Take me out there  
Far away and save me from my self-destruction  
Hopeless for you  
Say a prayer for California'"**_

**Boy Division**** by ****My Chemical Romance****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

***PLEASE READ MESSAGE BELOW***

**Okay, this chapter, and probably this one only, is rated M for torture scenes, and torture scenes only. Nothing sexual. I've read several other stories rated T with torture in them, and usually the authors come back in the next chapter and apologize for not warning their readers. So, here's your warning. You can't say I didn't warn you.**

**That is all, read on!**

* * *

Kyra's POV

"In you go." Beckendorf says, opening the vault-like door of the "department."

"Thanks Beckendorf." Nico says.

"What for?" he asks.

"Being so nice, I guess." Nico says, shrugging.

Beckendorf laughs. "Well, you _are_ a friend." he says.

"Yea. Yea, I know." Nico says, nodding.

Beckendorf closes the door and I look around at the dungeon. It looked the same as it had when we had been taken out hours ago, but over where the chains were, there was a sort of rolling cart with a bunch of different locked boxes on it.

"Nico, what do you think that is?" I ask, nodding to the cart.

"I dunno." he says, shrugging.

We walk over and peer at it. The boxes ranged in size, some the same size as a loaf of bread, others the size of a microwave.

"I wonder what's in those." I say, bumping one of them.

"Well, sweetheart, you're about to find out." a gravelly voice says from the door.

Nico and I turn around to see two figures illuminated by the bright lights out in the hall. They enter, the larger of the two closing the door behind him, and start walking over to us.

I grab Mike and pull him behind me. The bigger man had tan looking skin and a ragged scar diagonally running from his hairline to the bottom of his jaw. He was tall and muscular, and his eyes were an orangey yellow color, like a cat's. His hair was an extremely dark brown, almost black, and it was slicked back.

The other man looked like a scarecrow. His clothes hung loosely off of his stick-like frame, and his face looked like it was _made_ out of scars since there were so many. His eyes sort of bulged out of their sockets, like that of a pig's, and his nose was long and came to a sharp point.

"I've been waiting years for this sweet, sweet moment." Cat Eyes says, looking at me and licking his lips.

I get a bad feeling in my stomach from the way he said that. I had obviously met this man at some point in my life, I just didn't remember.

"Chain her up." he tells Scar-Face.

"What? No." Nico says, moving in front of me.

Cat Eyes grabs Nico and Mike and drags them to one of the cells. Scar-Face grabs me by the hair and pulls me over to the chains. I try getting away, but he only pulls on my hair more. I scream as he yanks at it. It felt like a vacuum cleaner was sucking all my hair off of my scalp.

"Get your hands off of my son!" Nico yells, kicking his legs, trying to break loose from Cat Eyes' strong grasp. Mike was crying and struggling to get away.

He chuckles and throws them in the cell, slamming the door before Nico had the chance to escape.

Scar-Face takes a knife out of his pocket and cuts the rope off around my wrists, then shackles me to the wall. He then cuts the bounds on my ankles and shackles those as well. Sadly, he did it before I could get a good kick at his face.

"Ah, good. You can go. I'll contact you when I'm finished with her." Cat Eyes says, patting Scar-Face on the back.

He leaves and Cat Eyes turns and looks at me.

"Do you remember me, Kyra?" he asks.

"I can't say I do." I say, grinding my teeth.

"Let me refresh your memory." he says, "It was 19 years ago. You were at Camp Half-Blood, walking through the woods. You were on your cell phone, talking to someone. I was there as well, watching you from behind the trees. I stepped on some branches and you heard me. A minute later, I came out and I talked to you for a few minutes. Remember yet?" he asks, smirking at me.

I gasp. It was _him_. "You—what the hell are you doing here?!" I scream, trying to launch myself at him, but only being jerked back by the chains.

"Ah, so you _do_ remember me. I knew you would. That moment in the woods, so many years ago, I knew there was something special there." he says, his smirk broadening into a grin.

"Get away from me, Daemon." I spit.

"Oh, I'm going to do quite the opposite of that." he purrs.

He unlocks one of the boxes on the cart and opens it, revealing several different kinds of weapons and tools. He takes a remote from his pocket and presses a button. The lights in the room grow a bit brighter. He sets the remote on the cart and then takes a knife out of the unlocked box. He examines it in the light now. The blade looked wickedly sharp.

He moves towards me and I tense up. "Now, now. Not going to do anything just yet." he says.

He takes the hem of my shirt and then cuts it with the knife. He then tears it right up the middle, exposing my stomach and chest. Thankfully, I had a bra on, but that still didn't make me feel much better.

Daemon drops the knife into the box and grabs a whip of some sort. It was an awful looking whip. There were small, Celestial bronze blades attached to it. He turns back to me, an eyebrow raised and a grin on his face. I felt sick.

Then, he lashes me across the stomach. I bite my lip, refusing to give him the pleasure of hearing me scream, no matter how much it hurt.

"Aw, come now. You can show a bit more emotion than that. I know you can. If I recall correctly, you screamed like a banshee that day in the woods. That is, before I shut you up." he says, lashing me again.

He does this several more times. My skin felt like it was on fire. I could feel warm blood running down my stomach and I could hear Nico screaming himself hoarse.

"I'll say it one more time. Let me hear you _screeeam_." he says, lashing not my stomach, but my face.

That was when I broke. I screamed so loudly, I don't think I've ever given such an ear-shattering scream in my entire life.

Daemon throws his head back and laughs with glee.

"You're sick." I mutter, spitting blood at him.

I hear him drop the whip and I look up, my vision blurry and tinged with red. He was grabbing something from the bottom shelf of the cart. He turns around, holding a bucket.

He walks back over to me and then dumps the contents of the bucket all over me. I was instantly freezing cold. He had poured ice water on me.

"I know." he whispers, his hot, disgusting breath on my cheek.

I hear a rattling beside me and turn my head to see what it was. Nico was in the cell, gripping the bars so tightly that his knuckles were white, and shaking the door.

"You let her go, you sadistic son of a bitch! Take me instead!" he screams.

"I would, but this is just too much fun." Daemon says, cackling.

He turns back to me and grabs a dagger out of the box.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" he asks, coming closer to me.

"I don't know what your definition of fun is, but it sure isn't close to what I consider it to be." I say.

He laughs again as I squirm, trying to get away from him, but fail. Stupid fucking chains.

The next hour was filled with mine and Nico's screams, Mike's crying, and Daemon's insane laughter.

**A/N:**

**So uh, I think you can see why I had to rate this particular chapter M. The idea of the torture scene just smacked me in the face like a brick one day. I wrote it and then I thought about it and realized that this story is actually rated T, not M. But I wasn't going to change the rating of the whole story over just one chapter, hence the warning before the chapter actually started.**

**So when did you figure out that Cat Eyes was Daemon? I thought that idea was brilliant. Have the guy who did an unspeakable thing to her nearly twenty years ago come back and do something else that's pretty awful to her. **

**I can not wait to get these stupid fucking braces off. I had another readjustment today and now I have three rubber bands in my mouth. It's kinda hard to explain where they're at, but this third one that I have to wear now is finishing off the job by closing the gap between my front teeth and my bottom teeth. So, hopefully, if I remember to wear it all the time, I'll have these fuckers off in a few months. That's just my guess, but since this is the last thing that needs to be done, I'm thinking it's only going to be a few months. **

**Sooo, on Friday in the surprise update I mentioned that my mom and I were going to the animal shelter to look at dogs? Well there was one, two sisters actually (Pepper and Snickers), and they're the cutest things. They're terrier mixes, can't remember what they're mixed with, but they shouldn't get too big. They're only three or four months old, so they're still in the puppy stage.**

**Anyway, I held the smaller one, Pepper, and she was the sweetest little thing. And since it's going to be my dog, we had to make sure I was the one who held her and loved on her. So my mom and I went to this little visiting room and I played with her and she didn't bark the whole time and she just wanted me to hold her. When I gave her to my mom, she sorta wiggled and my mom put her back down and she came right back to me. So I knew that she was the one. **

**Then, when we came out of the room to adopt her, the lady at the desk said she and her sister weren't allowed to go up for adoption til the 18th since they were strays and their owner could be looking for them. **

**Y'know how when an animal doesn't want to be moved and they lean all their weight in a certain direction? Well, that's what she was doing when the lady was trying to take her away from me. It literally felt like a piece of my soul was being ripped out of me and thrown into a fucking blender. **

**So I've been pretty down for the past few days because I've been really worried that I wouldn't get to claim Pepper. This morning though, I called the shelter and asked if she was still there or if she and her sister's owner had come and gotten them. The lady told me that they were still there and that if I ****_really _****wanted Pepper, I'd have to be at the shelter gates really early since it's first come first serve. **

**But that makes me feel sooooo much better knowing that she's still there. Not only do I want Pepper, I feel like I ****_need _****her. When I was holding her and playing with her, there was definitely a connection there. **

**When I get her, and I'm convinced that I will now, I'll be renaming her Zoe. Pepper is just the name the shelter gave her since she wasn't found with any tags or a microchip, same goes for her sister Snickers. I've always wanted a dog named Zoe, and she just ****_looks _****like a Zoe. **

**So yea, I have to get up at about 6:00 tomorrow and be down there at 7:00 and wait for them to open at 11:00. Honestly though, I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight because I'll be too excited. The sleep deprivation will be worth it, I'm sure of it. And when I claim her, I won't actually get to take her home until the 23rd (maybe the 24th since they're closed on the 23rd) because they have to spay her. So, she'll basically be a Christmas present ^.^**

**Also, my mom's work Christmas party was last night. We went bowling and it was a lot of fun :)**

**I've done so much stuff since Saturday, but I'll save that for later, I feel like this AN is long enough as it is.**

**M/A:**

_**"'Stop and stare  
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere  
Yea I know that everyone gets scared  
But I've become what I can't be, oh  
Stop and stare  
You start to wonder why you're here not there  
And you'd give anything to get what's fair  
But fair ain't what you really need  
Oh, can you see what I see?'"**_

**Stop and Stare**** by ****OneRepublic****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

The game had been called seconds after I had picked up Adrienne's throwing star and started heading in the direction of the scream. Whether it had been because someone had gotten the enemy's flag or if they had heard the scream too, I didn't know.

"James, that sounded an awful lot like Adrienne." Lydia says, catching up to me.

I just glare at her and keep moving. I really hoped she wasn't right about that.

We come to the end of the dense trees and out into a sort of clearing. There were boulders, wildflowers, and tall grass covering the whole thing. So actually, not much of a clearing at all. I could see a trampled path leading to the center though.

I quickly start running along the path, not even paying attention to see if the others were following me. When I reach the middle, I see a small figure curled up on the ground.

"No." I whisper, moving closer to the person and seeing that it was, in fact, Adrienne.

I fall to my knees and move her closer to me, pulling her up to me and cradling her. There was an arrow sticking out of a chink in her armor on her side. The whole backside of her armor was sticky with blood.

"Addie." I say, squinting my eyes shut, like maybe if I didn't see her, it wouldn't be real.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I don't know who's hand it is, but I really don't care.

I hear a small cough and the other three behind me gasp. "Jamie?" a small voice asks.

I open my eyes and see Adrienne looking up at me, her dark eyes sleepy and confused.

"Thank the gods. Addie, just hold on." I say, scooping her up and running back the way we had come.

* * *

"Please, I need help!" I call, running into the infirmary.

There were three other campers with fractured something-or-others and bruises and scrapes. When I came in with Addie in my arms, the three injured and the two campers tending to them froze.

"Well don't just stand there! My little sister is hurt!" I yell. My left shoulder blade hurt slightly, but I push it off as nothing.

That seemed to snap them out of their stupor. They have me set her down on a bed and they get to work on examining the arrow sticking out of her side.

"Somebody go find Chiron." one of them says.

"I'll go." I say, moving towards the door.

Before I know it, my vision blurs and my feet seem to go out from under me. I hear shouts of surprise around me and someone taking me by the shoulders, trying to heft me up.

"Dude, hold on." the voice sounded familiar.

My vision had blurred so badly that everything was just shadows and different shades of black and dark blue. I feel a sharp pain in my left shoulder blade and cry out.

"I think this is what was causing the problem." someone says.

"Wha?" I ask.

"James, are you alright?" it was Tristan, or at least, he was one of the people in the room.

"No." I moan.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"I can't see anything. Shadows. That's all. And my stomach is killing me." I say, "Is Adrienne going to be alright?" I ask, sitting up, only to be pushed back down.

"She'll be fine. Sam just got back with Chiron and he's fixing her up. You need to rest. You got shot in the back with some sort of poison dart. The point of it must of been pretty sharp to pierce through your armor." he says.

"But who—?" I ask.

"We don't know. No one's fessed up to Adrienne's accident yet, and we have no clue where that dart of yours came from." he says.

"The field." I say, sitting up again, even though Tristan was trying his hardest to keep me down.

"What field?" he asks, confused.

"Where I found Addie. Go ask Lydia, she was with me." I say.

"Okay, okay. I'll be back soon. Stay here." he says.

"Yea, alright." I say, laying back down, feeling a mixture of sleepiness and dizziness come on, probably from trying to sit up.

* * *

When I wake up, I find Jade sitting in a chair between mine and Adrienne's beds, flipping through a magazine. My vision was mostly back to normal, except for a bit of blurriness here and there.

"Ugh." I groan, sitting up and rotating my shoulder back. My whole back felt like it had been attacked by a hornet's nest.

"Oh, so you finally decided to wake up." she says, glancing up at me.

"Is Adrienne still asleep?" I ask, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

"Yea. Chiron had to give her some sort of pain relief because the ambrosia wasn't working fast enough. The side effect was sleepiness. She's been in and out of it for the past couple of hours." she says, glancing over at her.

"Did they ever figure out who shot her?" I ask.

A dark look comes to her face and she shakes her head. "No. Tristan came back here about two hours after curfew with nothing. He and a four other campers scoured that clearing twice, and there wasn't a thing. Chiron's furious about it." she says.

"He's not the only one." I growl, getting out of bed, only to stumble.

Jade's on her feet in an instant, catching me and steadying me. "Whoa there, take it easy, Sunshine." she says.

"What the hell?" I ask, frustrated. I was so irritated with the fact that I couldn't walk that I didn't snap at Jade about calling me "Sunshine."

"The poison on that dart sort of paralyzed some of the nerves throughout your body. You're gonna have to wait a couple of more hours before you can actually walk without falling on your face." she says, helping me sit back on the bed.

"Well then what am I supposed to do? Just sit here?" I ask.

"Yea actually." she says, shrugging.

I moan and flop my head against the pillow. This was just wonderful. I just had to sit here while whoever shot Adrienne, and probably me as well, just got away with it.

"Do you know if my uncle has called back yet?" I ask.

She shakes her head again. "No, he hasn't. I'm sorry." she says.

"Could this get any worse?" I ask, closing my eyes.

"Don't say that. You'll tempt Tyche." she says.

"Yea, I guess you're right." I sigh.

She stands up, placing her magazine in the chair. "You want anything? I'm going down to the mess hall to get something for breakfast." she says.

"Whoa, how long have I been out?" I ask.

"Since last night." she says.

"Oh. I guess just some cereal with strawberries." I say.

"Alright, I'll be back in half an hour or so." she says.

"Okay." I say, watching her as she left.

She was being surprisingly nice to me, and it was weird. I wonder if maybe it was just because she felt pity for me, or if maybe she was actually just starting to like me.

**A/N:**

**Heh, "Sunshine." I quite like that nickname for James, don't y'all? And who do you think shot James and Adrienne? An accomplice or spy for the guy who took Kyra, Nico, and Mike maybe? Or just someone who ****_really_**** doesn't like them?**

**It is Saturday, right? For some reason, my days have been mixed up all damn week, it's driving me mad. I keep thinking it's actually Sunday, so I check a calendar and then see it's actually Saturday. Gah!**

**Oh! So exciting news! Y'know on Tuesday I was talking about that dog I really wanted to adopt? Well, I GOT HER! Waking up at 6:00 and waiting until they opened at 11:00 was totally worth it. I haven't actually gotten to bring her home yet because they're going to spay her, so I'll get to pick her up on Monday. I got all her things from the pet store yesterday and I'm soooo excited! Like, I really can't remember the last time I was this excited and happy about something. The closest I can think of was this past summer when I went to see Green Day's "Broadway Idiot" and got to talk to one of the guys who preformed, he was pretty fucking cute, I might add. **

**And I was really happy because there was this lady behind me who had also wanted to adopt Zoe, but since I had been there first, she didn't get her. Anyway, she decided to adopt Snickers, Zoe's sister, instead. So I was really glad that she got a home as well. I woulda felt kinda bad if she had just been left there at the shelter while I took her sister away. **

**So ah, it's like 70° where I am right now...It's supposed to storm and bring in a cold front tonight though, so it'll be getting colder again. The weather has been so crazy this year, it's driving me insane. **

**M/A:**

**_"'__I have a life outside my mind_  
_But I am trapped inside_  
_Remembering nothing_  
_Wanting for no one_  
_So damn hollow'"_**

**~ Numbing Truth by Daisyhead. **

**(I've been obsessed with this song for about a week now. It's so good!)**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

"Ugh." I groan, squinting open my eyes. But instead of having just a dim glow of light, there was nothing, just complete darkness.

My head hurt, my stomach hurt, everything hurt. My whole body was covered in cuts and bruises. I wasn't chained up anymore, that much I could tell. My wrists and ankles were bound together again though.

"Hello?" I ask, trying to move around. I bump into something warm and cushy.

"Oh, thank the gods." Nico says, sighing.

"Mama? Are you okay?" Mike asks.

"Nico, what happened?" I ask.

"Daemon, he ah, did stuff to you for a long time. You stopped screaming maybe an hour into it. I thought...I thought maybe—" his voice was scratchy.

"What happened?" I ask.

He takes a deep breath then starts again. "After another hour or so, I guess he got bored. I heard the chains rattling and then you fell to the ground. He tied you up and dragged you in here. I couldn't see you because he had already turned off the lights, but Ky, I could feel blood all over your body." he says, his voice hoarse.

"I'm alright, and that's what matters. Did he say anything before he left?" I ask.

"He said he'd be back later." he says.

"Mama, I wanna go home." Mike says, sniffling.

I feel around and find him, then pull him closer to me. "I know, I want to go home too. We'll get there eventually, I promise." I say.

* * *

"Oh my gods." someone gasps.

I open my eyes and see that the lights had been turned back on, so I could faintly see someone standing outside the cell.

"Silena?" Nico asks, standing up.

She fumbles with some keys and a second later I hear the lock click. The door swings open and she beckons us out.

"Oh gods. Kyra, what did he _do_ to you?" she asks, her eyes wide.

"Too many things." I say.

"Here." she says, yielding a dagger. She cuts the rope around my ankles and wrists, then does Nico's and Mike's as well.

"C'mon, I was ordered to take you to the showers so you could get cleaned up." she says, gently patting me on the back.

"What about Nico and Mike?" I ask.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. Charlie will be here in a few minutes with some water for them." she says.

"Go on, Ky." Nico says.

"I'll be back." I say.

He nods and pushes me forward a little. I follow Silena to the door and then head out into the blinding hallway.

* * *

I got out of the shower, feeling fresh and clean. Silena had given me a new pair of jeans and a new shirt to change into, along with a small piece of ambrosia. I couldn't count how many times I had thanked her.

"You know, as soon as Daemon heard you were being brought here, he's been obsessing over what he'd do to you. The things I heard him talk about, the tortures, they were awful." she says, shuddering.

"Nico said I passed out from the pain about an hour after he started." I say, examining my newly acquired cuts.

He had carved into my arms. Unfortunately, I had been conscious for that part. Some of the cuts were deep, so they were taking longer to heal than some of the others.

We turn a corner in the maze of hallways, but it was the wrong way back to the department.

"Uh, Silena, aren't you taking me back to the department?" I ask. I certainly didn't mind not going back, but I wanted Nico and Mike with me.

She looks at me, pity in her eyes. "I'm afraid not. I was given orders to bring you to my boss after you were cleaned up." she says.

"What about Nico and Mike? Are they coming too?" I ask.

"I don't know if they'll be brought up later or not. I was only told to bring you." she says.

"I'm not going unless they're with me." I say, crossing my arms.

Silena stops walking and turns around to look at me. "Look, if you don't cooperate and come with me, you, Nico and Mike will probably be killed. So unless you want that to happen, _follow me_." she says.

She turns back around and resumes walking. I pause before going after her. If what she said was true and all three of us would be killed if I didn't cooperate, I'd rather take my chances with meeting this guy first before he makes his decision on our lives.

I follow her down a hallway and the walls start to darken in color, going from white to cream, beige to tan, and so on. The floor also changed, going from the stark white tiles to a sort of uneven river rock floor.

We go up a narrow spiral staircase and come out into a giant entry hall. The floor was a sparkling siam, and the walls were a yellow-gold color. In front of us were a pair of giant doors; they looked to be made out of light sapphire gems.

"Here you go." she says, nodding to the doors.

"He's in there?" I ask.

She nods. "I've never been in, but behind those doors are his quarters." she says.

"Can you promise me something?" I ask, turning to look at her.

"Yea, sure." she says.

"If—if he doesn't let me come back out, promise me you and Charlie will get Nico and Mike home to safety." I say.

"We'll try our best. Now go on, you don't want to make him angry." she says, nudging my shoulder.

I take a deep breath and nod, walking towards the giant crystal blue doors. Here it goes.

**A/N:**

**Sooo, what do you think is gonna happen in there? I'm pretty sure you guys are going to be kinda confused when you read chapter 25. It's a really long chapter, I'll tell ya that ahead of time.**

**Also, I think you guys are really going to enjoy the next chapter! A character from ****The Shadows of Revolution**** will be returning! ^.^**

**Well, yesterday I picked up Zoe! She was pretty tired because she was still under anesthesia from being spayed, so she was kinda out of it for most of the day. She and my other dog, Charlie, are getting along quite well, so that's a relief. We think he's actually a bit protective over her, and we're not sure if that's going to be a good thing or a bad thing...**

**Right now she's asleep on my lap, she's been playing most of the day so she's a little worn out. I swear, she can be the wiggliest little thing and then go to the laziest on the planet. It was really funny this morning; I woke up and she was already out and playing and Charlie would be playing with a specific toy and she'd just go right up to him and steal it then prance (yes, she literally prances when she walks) to ****_his_**** bed and lay down and start chewing on the toy. He didn't really seem to mind though, so I suppose it's alright.**

**So ah, it's Christmas Eve...It feels like December has just flown by this year...Actually, scratch that. This whole ****_year_**** has flown by.**

**Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy holiday, whatever it might be that you celebrate, and I'll talk to y'all again on Saturday! :)**

**M/A:**

_**"'Take another step, take another step back, don't leave  
Look at where we've been through time  
I'll always value your life over mine'"**_

**Your Life Over Mine**** by ****BriBry****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

I had been laying in this bed for quite some time, and I was growing impatient. Jade should have been back by now, at least an hour had gone by since she had gone to get breakfast.

I sigh loudly and glance over at Adrienne. She was still asleep. Her whole abdomen was wrapped in bandages. I really didn't see why they felt the need to do that, she had only been shot in that one place, but whatever floats their boat I guess.

In the distance I could faintly hear the clash of swords and the rumble of the lava wall. I wanted to be out there training, or looking for mom and dad and Mike, or anything really. Anything but sitting in this bed doing nothing.

"Feeling helpless?" someone asks.

I jump, startled, and look over at the door. There was a man standing there, wearing a crisp black business suit. He was tall and had straight, jet black hair that fell to his shoulders. He looked to be relatively young, mid-thirties to early forties.

"Who—who are you?" I ask.

He enters the infirmary and stands at the end of my bed. He looks down at me, studying me. His eyes were a startling lilac color. I'd never seen someone with eyes that color before. The closest were Uncle Mo's eyes, but his were a deep violet color.

"I'm an old friend of your mother's." he says.

"Oh. I uh, don't mean to me rude, but why are you here?" I ask.

"I heard about what happened to your parents and little brother." he says.

Adrienne groans and rolls over in her sleep.

"Shh! She doesn't know yet." I say, glancing at her, nervously.

"I see." he says, nodding.

"Anyway, how did you find out? Do other people know?" I ask, sitting up.

"I have my ways. And besides you and Mo Laths, I don't believe anyone else knows." he says.

"I want to keep it that way for a little while longer." I say.

"I know where they are." he says, picking up and observing a vial with some sort of hot pink liquid in it.

"_What_?" I ask, my eyes widening.

"I know where they are. I want you to tell your sister when she's well and then I want you two to meet me in the woods." he says.

"Why can't you just tell me now?" I ask.

"Because then you'll try and find them by yourself when you're still weak from your injury. Am I right?" he asks, smirking at me, "Wait until you and your sister are better, and then meet me in the woods. That should give you time to come up with a plan." he says, turning to leave.

"Wait!" I say.

He stops and turns back around, looking at me. "Yes?" he asks.

"Where will I know where to go?" I ask.

"You'll know." he says, a knowing grin coming to his lips.

Without another word, he turns back around and leaves. I sit there in the bed, looking at the door at a loss for words.

"Who _was_ that guy?" I ask myself.

* * *

"Hey, I'm back." Jade says, coming into the infirmary.

"Where have you _been_?" I ask.

"Training." she says.

"You were supposed to bring me breakfast three hours ago!" I exclaim.

"Oh, has it really been that long? I didn't notice." she says, shrugging and sitting down in the chair.

"Yes, it's been that long. I'm starving." I say.

"Well, you're just gonna have to suck it up and wait till lunch, Sunshine." she says.

"Don't call me that." I grumble.

"'Don't call me that.'" she says, doing a bad imitation of my voice and making a face.

I sigh roll my eyes, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I didn't care if some of the nerves in my legs were still paralyzed, I was going to force them to work. I couldn't sit in this bed anymore or I'd go crazy.

"What are you doing?" she asks, her eyes wide.

"I'm getting out of this damn bed, what does it look like?" I say.

I get on my feet and start to move forward, only to stumble again. Jade stands up to help me but I wave her off. I steady myself with the bed and try again. I shuffle forward and finally make it to the other side of the bed.

My legs were tingling, like they had fallen asleep and were waking up again. I suppose that's what they _were_ doing. I move around a little bit more, stumbling less as I did.

"Thank the gods." I sigh.

Adrienne rolls over and squints open her eyes. I rush to her bedside, only feeling slightly dizzy, and look down at her.

"James?" she asks.

"It's alright, Addie." I say.

She sits up then clutches her head, groaning. "What _happened_?" she asks.

"You got shot in the side with an arrow. I found you, barely alive. What do you remember?" I ask.

"Uh, I was chasing Mark into this field and then I lost him and then everything just went dark. I sorta remember seeing you, but nothing else really." she says.

"I swear, when I find out who did this, I'm going to rip out his liver and feed it to the vultures while making him watch." I growl, fuming.

"Whoa now, James." Jade says.

"No, I'm completely serious. Whoever did this deserves much worse than that." I say.

"Is he really serious?" she asks, looking at Adrienne. The look in her eyes obviously stated that she was hoping I wasn't serious.

She nods. "If you think that's bad, when our dad finds out he'd personally kill him or her and do the tortures in Punishment." she says.

My stomach ties itself in a knot at the mention of dad. I knew that man was right, I needed to tell her what has happened, but I wanted to let her get a little bit better before I dropped it on her. It wouldn't be wise to tell her something like that when she's still extremely weak.

Jade looks at me, her face drawn. I could tell she was thinking about it too, just by the look in her eyes.

"Jade, can you go get Chiron and tell him Adrienne's awake? I think he'll probably want to check her out and make sure she's good to get back to training." I say.

"Uh, yea. I'll be back in a few minutes." she says, standing up and quickly exiting.

When she was gone, Adrienne looks at me, a suspicious look in her eyes. "Did she seem weird to you?" she asks.

"No." I shrug.

"James." she says, her eyes boring a hole in my head.

"What?" I ask.

"There's something you're not telling me. You're acting weird too." she says.

"I am not!" I say, indignant.

"Yes you are! I'll find out what it is." she says.

I sigh and shake my head, resting my forehead in my hands. I could already tell this was going to be extremely hard news to tell.

**A/N:**

**I am ****_so_**** sorry about how late this chapter is today. Time just sorta got away from me. Before I discuss a couple of things about the chapter, I'd like inform you guys of something:**

**My parents schedules are pretty wacked right now, and considering I now have a puppy to take care of and train, our little schedule for updates might get a bit skewed. Chapters might be a little later in the day than usual, or they might not be posted at all on the day they're usually posted. It might be the day after. **

**Also, I've been feeling a bit stressed with my parents schedules and the puppy and just everything in my life in general, stressful or not, so that's slowing down my writing a little bit. Actually had a little mental breakdown Christmas night and then got angry with myself because there really wasn't a reason for me to be crying at all. Anyway, hopefully I can pick this back up and get back to my usual writing habits, 'cause I want to finish writing this story as much as you guys want to finish reading it.**

**Okay, now that that's out of the way, unto the chapter. Who do ya think this guy is that visited James? I'll tell you one thing, you ****_have _****met him before. It actually shouldn't be that hard to figure out, it's pretty obvious ;)**

**Also, how do you think Adrienne will react when James tells her what's happened to Kyra, Nico, and Mike. **

**So tonight I went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Holy fuck. I want to just drop everything in my life now and travel the world and take pictures of everything I see and talk to people and just...yes. And Ben Stiller is a wonderful piece of man and you can't say or do anything to make me believe differently. I mean, damn. What an amazing actor and director. I definitely recommend seeing it.**

**M/A:**

_**"'Cause I, I want someone to take me home.  
And I, I'm finally tired of being alone.  
So you make me feel,  
But you make me feel high.'"**_

**~ Home by BriBry.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngelo25**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

Kyra's POV

After psyching myself up, I knock on the giant crystal doors. I turn around to see if Silena was still standing there, but she wasn't. I was completely alone.

I look back to the doors to see that they had opened. I take a deep breath then walk in, the doors soundlessly closing behind me. I look around the entry hall. The walls were blood red and the floor was made up of glowing white tiles.

"Come now, Kyra. Don't be shy." a voice echoes from down a long hallway. This whole building just seemed to be made up of these stupid hallways.

I walk forward and towards the hall, my footsteps sounding like explosions to my ears. I reach the end and come upon a worn looking wooden door. It was cracked open slightly.

I push it open to see a giant living room. It was a completely different atmosphere than the entry hall, more homey. The walls were a pretty olive green, the floor was carpeted with thick, fluffy, dark magenta carpet. There was even a big fire place, crackling with flames.

Sitting on the big, blue, wraparound couch was the man who had taken Mike. Anger fills me and I march over to him. I stand in front of him and he looks up at me, a sly grin on his lips.

"I see Silena got you all cleaned up after your night with Daemon." he says. His eyes weren't red anymore, they had changed to a cobalt blue.

I thought this strange, but the fury boiling inside me replaced the confusion.

My hands ball into fists. It was proving harder than expected not to punch this guy into oblivion. How dare he have the nerve to look at me like that, like he hadn't done a single bad thing, like he was a perfect little angel.

"What do you want with me? Why did you take my son?" I ask, gritting my teeth.

"Now, now, Kyra. No need to get aggressive. I just wanted to talk to you, perhaps have an early lunch while doing so." he says.

"No, you tell me what all of this is about. Right now." I growl.

"Oh, come now! Do I need to bring Daemon and my other guards in?" he asks, his blue eyes dancing with mischief.

I glare at him then sigh. "No." I say.

"Good. Now, have a seat, please." he says, gesturing to the couch.

I stiffly sit down as far away from him as possible. He looks at me and just keeps smiling, it was actually starting to creep me out. Just the look on his face told me he was some type of unhinged. Not like Daemon, not uncontrollable fury, something worse.

"Well, say something. Do you like what I've done here?" he asks, gesturing around the room.

I look at him in confusion. Was I his house guest or his prisoner? "Uh, it looks really nice." I say, hoping that was the right thing to say.

"Thank you. Hadn't been touched in nearly seventeen years. You wouldn't believe the mess; dust covering everything, windows broken, rats and bugs dominating the place." he says, disgust tinting his voice.

"Uhm, that sounds pretty awful. You've done a good job of restoring it all, though." I say.

If possible, his smile widens and he nods at me. "I'm so happy to hear that." he says.

He reaches over and presses a button on the arm rest of the couch. I hadn't noticed it when I had walked over a few minutes ago.

"Lunch will be up shortly. In the meantime, tell me about yourself. What have you been up to for the past few years?" he asks.

"I uh—" I fumble for something, but my mind draws a blank.

The man's face darkens and a frown penetrates his lips. His eyes start to change back to red, the color seeping out of the pupil and dominating the blue. "Don't stutter. I hate it when the person I'm talking to stutters, drives me mad." he says, his voice low and threatening, "Now tell me, what've you been doing?"

I decide to play along with his little game, otherwise I might end up dead. "Well, when I finished night courses in college at twenty-three, I had a bachelor's degree in business. After that, I rented a space in another artist's studio. A month later I found out I was pregnant with my daughter." I say. I really didn't know where he wanted me to start, so I figured this point in my life was as good as any other.

"You're an artist?" he asks, the red in his eyes disappearing and the blue returning. They sparkled with interest now.

"Yes. I suppose I have been for a while. I started taking pottery classes when I was teenager. I found that it was my passion, so I went with it." I say, shrugging.

"That's wonderful. Continue, please." he says.

"So as time went by, I had to spend less time at my studio space because the dust and chemicals I used would have been bad for her. So I packed all my things up and left, sort of just worked around the house on little things. After she was born and didn't need me all the time, I got back to it and co-rented a building with another artist." I say, remembering the old studio. I still missed it, but I liked where I was now.

"And what happened after that?" he asks.

"I stayed in that studio for about four years, and then I got pregnant, _again_." I say.

"Did you intend on having a big family? Was it something you wanted?" he asks.

"Yes and no. Sometimes I would have preferred just having our first son, James, but then other times I like having three kids. Nico was the one who really wanted to have a big family, wouldn't surprise me if he wanted to have another child. But, I don't mind it. It keeps me busy, that's for sure." I chuckle.

"You mention your son James, what are your kids' full names?" he asks.

I hesitate before telling him. Why did he want to know? "My son, the oldest, is named James Gideon di Angelo." I say.

"Anything special about that name?" he asks.

"I've always loved the name James, and Gideon is my stepfather's middle name." I say.

"Ah, I see. And what about your other two children?" he asks.

"My daughter is named Adrienne Bianca di Angelo, after my best friend's mother, she was my guardian for about a year when I was in my senior year of high school, and also after Nico's sister. She died when she was twelve." I say. I'd never seen a picture of Bianca, because there weren't any, but Nico had described her a million times to me.

"And little Micheal?" he asks.

"I have two brothers that I'm particularly close to. My brother John, whom I grew up with, and my half-brother Will. We used their middle names, John's being Micheal and Will's Oliver. Hence the name Micheal Oliver di Angelo." I conclude.

"I see. And how long did it take before you were able to return to your passion in art after he was born?" he asks.

"Maybe two years? Mike was a very needy baby, started screaming any time I left his sight." I say.

"Such a small ball of energy. I've never heard a child of his age scream for so long." he says, shaking his head in wonder.

"When will I get to see him and Nico again? Will they be brought up here soon?" I ask.

"Depends on if you cooperate. Maybe after we eat lunch." he says, looking towards a beige door I hadn't noticed before.

It opens and a girl in a French maid's outfit, short, revealing dress and all, saunters in pushing a silver cart. On top of it there are three different plates with silver covers over them. She stops in front of the coffee table and sets each plate down. When she finishes, she takes the silver domes off, revealing three different Italian courses.

She places two smaller plates in front of us, along with some eating utensils and two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. She exits the room again, with the cart, without a word.

"Dig in, it's not like there isn't enough." he says, spooning ravioli and meat sauce onto his plate.

I stay still, just looking at him. When he's finished serving himself, he looks up to see I hadn't moved a muscle. He sighs and rolls his eyes, picking up the other plate.

He puts a heaping amount of spaghetti on it and then gives it to me, stone-faced. "If you want me to bring your husband and son up later, you have to do as I tell you." he says. His eyes were changing color again.

I look down at the plate and sigh, grabbing a fork. "There you go." he says as I swirl the noodles around the fork.

I eye the ball of noodles on the fork. Why did he want me to eat so badly? And what the fuck was with all the personal questions?

"It's not poisoned, in case you were wondering. Here." he says, eating some of the spaghetti.

"See, I wouldn't of done that if they had been poisoned, because I wouldn't want to kill myself. I have much to do before I leave this planet." he says, chewing.

I nod and start eating. It was actually really good. Whoever had made it was a really good cook. The sauce tasted homemade almost, not like something from a jar, and there were big chunks of tomatoes in it.

When I finish, I gently set the fork on my empty plate and lean back, completely and utterly full.

"That wasn't that bad, was it?" he asks, smirking at me.

"No, it wasn't. Your cook is very good in the kitchen." I say.

"I know. Best I could find, actually." he says, sounding impressed with himself.

"Now, I've told you about my life, can you answer some questions for me?" I ask.

"Hmm, maybe. How about you ask me a question, I answer it, and then I do the same with you." he says.

I stare at him for a second before nodding. It was probably the only deal I'd be able to get out of him, and I didn't want to risk the only chance I had of figuring out who he was by pushing for something else.

"Okay then, ask away." he says, gulping down some wine and then leaning back into the couch.

"Why did you take my son, and then my husband and I?" I ask.

"Your son holds great power. Raised the right way and trained correctly, he'd be a very powerful piece in the future. You and your husband, well, I didn't really have another choice but to take you two when you charged outside and tried taking your son back." he says, shrugging.

"Okay, my turn. You mentioned your brother, John, earlier. Is he married?" he asks.

"That's an odd question, but yes, he is." I say.

"What's his wife's name, do they have children?" he asks, seemingly eager to know the answers.

"Uh-uh-uh." I tut, "Only one question and answer."

He sighs. "Fine."

"What power are you talking about that Mike possesses?" I ask.

"He actually possesses three different powers. Those of you and your husband's, but also another. With this other power, he can make things out of thin air. He can make practically anything happen with this power."

"Oh." I say, my voice small. Where in the world did he get that power from? I don't possess it, and neither does Nico, as it's not an ability specifically known to Apollo or Hades.

"Now, what is your brother's wife's name?" he asks.

"Atala." I say, "Do you know who he got this power from?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "No. As far as I know, he was born with it or it was given to him unintentionally right after birth." he says, "Do they have any kids, your brother and his wife?"

"Yes. They adopted two children, because Atala wasn't able to conceive." I say, "What's your name?"

He looks down at his hands for a moment, as if pondering whether he should tell me or not. "Osiris." he says.

"You're named after the Egyptian god of the afterlife?" I ask.

"Only one question, remember?" he says, smirking.

I sigh and motion for him to ask me another question. "Was your brother ever married to anyone else?" he asks.

"Uhm, yes, actually. A woman whom said her name was Callie, but it was actually Leah." I say.

He nods, as if he already knew this tidbit of information.

"So, you're named after a god?" I ask.

"No. After my mother's lover at the time I was born, it was his last name." he says, "Did your brother and his previous wife ever have children?"

I laugh. "Hell no. They were only married for a little less than two weeks." I say.

"I think that's enough questions for now. I'll have someone show you to your room, and bring your husband and Mike up in a few minutes." he says, standing up and walking away.

He disappears through a large, round, black door. I hear blots clicking into place and I sigh. There was something really strange about Osiris, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what that something was.

Something bothered me about what he had told me of Mike's "special power." He had said he was either born with it or it had been accidentally given to him right after birth.

I don't remember much from that time in the hospital, but I do remember tidbits of things. Like how right after he was born, Nico was right there next to me, nearly sobbing. Then he left and came back a few minutes later, whispering that it was going to be okay.

I had always thought that maybe he had just been so overjoyed, like he had been with James and Adrienne, that he couldn't hold back his emotions. But why had he been telling me it was going to be okay? Wouldn't it have been all okay in the first place?

One thing was for sure, I was going to be asking more questions later today.

**A/N:**

**Osiris is an interesting character, am I right? And if it wasn't clear as to why Kyra wasn't throttling him, it was because if she didn't cooperate, she'd most likely be killed. Then Nico and Mike would be trapped inside that building for gods know how long.**

**It took me forever to come up with a fitting name for Osiris. It seemed like anything I tried just didn't fit his character. Before I decided on Osiris though, it was Fawx. Kinda weird, I know. I really like the name Osiris, makes me think of the color purple for some reason. Like a beautiful, royal purple.**

**Well, I'm getting my hair dyed back to a natural color in a couple of weeks. I'm going to a really dark brown, darker than my natural color, and my hair stylist said she could do red highlights too, so I'm pretty excited about that ^_^**

**Last night I watched ****The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey**** and it was pretty good. My mom wants to see the second one, and I told her I'd go with her but I wanted to watch the first one, hence why I watched it last night. **

**I also bought six albums yesterday! Three at Target and then three on iTunes, using up the rest of my gift cards from Christmas. I got the new Panic! At the Disco album ****Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!****, and AC/DC's ****Back In Black****, and then AWOLNATION's ****Megalithic Symphony****. Those are the ones I got from Target. Then from iTunes, I got two Fall Out Boy records, their new one ****Save Roll and Roll**** and ****Folie à Deux****. Then I got Yellowcard's ****Southern Air****. I am so excited to listen to them all!**

**Oh, and Happy New Years Eve! It's now been a whole year of wearing braces. I'm so ready to get these fucking things off. What is everyone's New Years Resolution, if you have one? My two main ones are:**

**1. Be more outgoing.**

**and**

**2. Get a grip on anxiety.**

**There are other ones, but those are the ones I really need to work on. **

**So, this is goodbye, until Saturday, that is. But by that point, it'll be a new year! Hopefully it'll be a good one.**

**M/A:**

_**"'Oh hello,  
Will you be mine?  
I haven't felt this alive in a long time,  
All the streets are warm today**_

I read signs  
I haven't been this in love in a long time  
The sun is up, the sun will stay  
All for the new day'"

**Manchester**** by ****Kishi Bashi****.**

**XOXO,**

**Mrs-diAngleo25**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

* * *

James' POV

"You should be fine to move around now, but be careful." Chiron says, stepping back so Adrienne could get out of the bed.

"Thanks, Chiron." she says.

"No trouble. When we find who did this, they will be severely punished." he says, his brown eyes darkening with anger.

It caught me by surprise to see that much anger in his eyes, Chiron always seemed like such an easygoing guy. But I suppose the campers were like his grandchildren or some type of family to him, so if someone hurt them, he'd be glad to hurt the person who did it back.

He shakes his head, as if to knock out the angry thoughts. "Now, I must get back to the other campers. Take it easy, both of you." he says.

He clops out of the infirmary, leaving just Adrienne and I. Jade had left about twenty minutes ago, claiming she had to get back to training and that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself now. Why she wasn't worried about Adrienne, I don't know. I mean, she has a worse injury than me.

Adrienne starts making her way to the door, perfectly in ease. It never ceased to amaze me what nectar and ambrosia could do, as well as the other medications and herbs we used here at Camp. I quickly follow her out and we make our way to the cabins.

"After training today, I uh, I need to talk to you." I say, catching up to her.

She glances over at me, her dark eyes curious and suspicious. "Sure, James. Would it have anything to do with how you and Jade were acting earlier?" she asks, leaning against one of the black and gold marble pillars of the Hades cabin.

"Uh, yea, it actually does." I say, looking down at my feet.

"I see. Well, I'll talk to you then." she says, grinning at me before turning around and disappearing inside the cabin.

I sigh and shake my head. I knew what she was thinking, why she thought Jade and I had been acting weird earlier. She thought maybe we had hooked up or something. But what was going on was the farthest thing from that.

* * *

"Hey, Adds." Jade says, running up to Adrienne and laying a hand on her shoulder.

We stop walking and turn around to face her. "Where are you two going? The campfire is that way in case you didn't know." she says, pointing to the path and rolling her eyes.

"We're skipping the campfire tonight, I have to talk to Adrienne." I say.

Confusion lights her colorful eyes and she cocks her head to the side. Then her mouth takes the shape of an "o" and she nods her head, understanding.

"Gotcha. Well, I'll see you later Adds." she says, walking away from us and waving.

I turn around and start making my way to the dock again. That was where we had been heading when Jade had stopped us. I could hear Adrienne's light tread as she followed me close behind.

When we get to the dock, I sit down on the end of it, looking down at the water. The sun was slowly slinking away, lighting the sky in vibrant reds, purples, and oranges on its way out.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Adrienne asks, sitting down next to me.

I sigh and look up at the colorful sky. Where would I even begin to explain this? I take a deep breath then just plunge in. "Mom and dad and Mike, they uh—someone took them." I say.

"What? What do you mean 'took them?'" she asks.

"I mean _took_ _them_. Kidnapped them, snatched them. Mom was able to Iris message me from where they were, and she told me to call Uncle Mo and have him try to track them down. Then, if he manages that, he and some of the others will go and find them and bring them back home. At least, that's what they implied would happen when I talked to them. Now, I'm not so sure." I say.

She looks at me, her eyes wider than I'd ever seen them, and her mouth hanging open.

"A man visited me this morning while you were still asleep. Jade had gone to get breakfast, so I was basically alone. This guy came up to me and said that he was an old friend of mom's, and he knows where they are." I say.

"_What_?! Where are they? Did he tell you?" she asks.

"No, he didn't. He wanted me to tell you what was going on first when you were well enough, then he wanted us to meet him in the woods." I say.

She looks at me skeptically. "James, this man who you've never met before comes up to you and tells you he knows where mom, dad, and Mike are and then asks you to meet him in the woods. Don't you think that's just the slightest bit weird?" she asks.

"Well, yea. It _is_ a little weird. But there was something about him, Addie. He seemed like he wanted to help." I say.

"Well, did he tell you _where_ to meet him?" she asks.

I shake my head. "No. When I asked, he just said I'd know." I say, shrugging.

She stands up and turns around, making her way off the dock. I get up and start walking after her. "Where are you going?" I ask.

"You seen pretty convinced this guy can help. I'm going to my cabin to get some weapons and then we can go searching the woods for this mystery guy." she says.

"Alright then, let's do this." I say.

**A/N:**

**Kind of a filler, I think. But oh well, every story needs 'em. And how do you think Chiron feels about all the campers he's seen and trained throughout the years? Do you think he feels like they're his family? I suppose they're all related in some way through their godly parentage...**

**Tuesday you find out something pretty major, I can tell you that. May or may not shock you, I don't know.**

**So today I slept in until about 10:00, I took Zoe out and gave her to my dad at 8:00 when she woke up. Lemme tell you, sleeping in felt fucking incredible. I haven't slept in since I got Zoe, except maybe once. **

**Then later on my mom and I ran some errands then we came home and about an hour after that, we went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Holy fuck, it was amazing! **

**And, alas, this is my last Saturday of sleeping in, at least for a while, since I go back to my regular pottery class schedule of Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Though, I'm going to ask (probably more like beg) my teacher if I can switch schedules. **

**The friend that takes classes with me, for some reason it's taken me five fucking years to figure out she's a narcissistic asshole who doesn't care about anyone else but herself. She's constantly insulting me and the things I believe in, making fun of other people and generally just being a bitch. And y'know what? I really just don't want someone like that in my life. **

**She made me really angry the other day by something she said, I'm not gonna say ****_what _****she said though. But I don't want to blow up on her in the middle of class and then have a mental breakdown after. I'd be so fucking embarrassed, I'd never want to show my face at the studio again. **

**I will talk to her eventually about the way she's making me feel, but for now, I really just want to switch schedules in class.**

** M/A:**

**_"'I don't care what you think as long as it's about me  
The best of us can find happiness in misery'"_**

**I Don't Care**** by ****Fall Out Boy****.**

**(This is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I just rediscovered it last week.)** **XOXO,  
Mrs-diAngelo25** **P.S.** **I don't know why it's italicizing stuff now, I can't get it to stop soo, yea.**


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